US Asked Ukraine Not to Strike Moscow, St. Petersburg During CIA Chief’s Visit

Washington asked Kyiv to temporarily halt strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg during CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Russia, a request confirmed by Ukrainian officials to multiple media outlets. CBS News reported Tuesday, Aug. 25, citing a senior Ukrainian official, that the US informed Kyiv ahead of Ratcliffe’s trip that a senior delegation would be traveling to Moscow and asked Ukraine to suspend strikes until the delegation departed.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Sources in Ukrainian government circles separately confirmed the request to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, specifying that Washington had asked Ukraine not to attack both Moscow and St. Petersburg during the visit. CIA chief makes unannounced Moscow visit Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with Russian officials, according to CBS News, Axios and other US media. CBS News said sources familiar with the situation confirmed that Ratcliffe was in the Russian capital for a series of meetings, although neither the purpose of the trip nor the officials he was meeting were disclosed. It was Ratcliffe’s first trip to Moscow as CIA director and the highest-level visit by a Trump administration official to Russia since January. His predecessor, William Burns, traveled to Moscow in November 2021, months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Burns met senior Russian officials and spoke with Putin to warn against an invasion, CBS News reported. Other Topics of Interest Dolly Parton, Country Music Icon Who Dedicated 2022 Awards Show to Ukraine, Dies at 80 The country music icon and humanitarian, who dedicated the 2022 ACM Awards to Ukraine after Russia launched its invasion, died peacefully on Tuesday in Nashville, aged 80. US military aircraft lands in Moscow Ratcliffe’s presence in Russia emerged after flight-tracking data showed a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft traveling from the US to Latvia and then on to Moscow. CBS News said the aircraft was spotted at a Moscow airport alongside a US diplomatic motorcade. Suspilne later reported that the same aircraft departed Vnukovo and headed back toward Riga. The Kremlin initially said it had no information about the US military aircraft and that no meetings between Kremlin officials and US administration representatives were scheduled for the week. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.