A former CIA director has said that he sees little chance Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss ending the war.
David Petraeus, who also led US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan before taking command of the CIA, spoke to ABC News on Sunday, nine days after President Donald Trump met Putin in Alaska and a week after talks in Washington between American, Ukrainian and European leaders.
The flurry of diplomatic activity had increased speculation that Putin and Zelensky will meet each other for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“There’s not that much right now that would lead us to believe that,” Petraeus said in the interview. He added: “Vladimir Putin clearly has no intention of doing that unless he’s given additional territory, which is heavily fortified, and Russian forces would have to fight for years at the pace that they’re going.”
He said the “obstacle to peace” is Putin himself, and argued Washington should lift restrictions on certain weapons deliveries and provide more assistance to Kyiv.
“What we need to do is change those dynamics by helping Ukraine far more than we have so far. Lifting restrictions on them, seizing the $300 billion of frozen [Russian] reserves and (...) giving it to Ukraine. More sanctions on Russia, even including the Gazprombank, and curtailing the export of oil further than we have already,” he said.
While urging stronger Western backing for Ukraine, Petraeus also said that Russia is paying a heavy cost. He cited figures of 1.06 million Russian soldiers killed or wounded, with more than 500,000 unable to return to the front because of serious injuries.
He added that the losses are also undermining Russia’s economy. “This has to have, over time, a very, very substantial impact on the ability of Russia just to find a civilian workforce as well,” he said, pointing to reports that Moscow has sought female laborers from Africa to fill gaps.