US asked Ukraine not to strike Moscow during CIA director’s visit, media report
The Trump administration asked Ukraine not to carry out long-range missile and drone strikes on Moscow, St. Petersburg and northern Russia while CIA Director John Ratcliffe visits the Russian capital, according to media reports.
Financial Times correspondent Christopher Miller reported, citing people familiar with the request, that U.S. officials asked Kyiv last week to refrain from such strikes on Aug. 24-26, when a senior U.S. official was expected to travel to Moscow.
Ukraine agreed to the request, according to Miller.
Axios separately reported that Washington had informed Kyiv ahead of Ratcliffe’s trip that a senior U.S. delegation would be traveling to Moscow and asked Ukraine to suspend strikes until the delegation left Russia.
Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Aug. 25 for talks with Russian officials, two U.S. officials told Axios. It is his first visit to Moscow since taking office and the highest-level visit by a Trump administration official to Russia since January.
According to Axios, Ratcliffe left Washington on Aug. 23 and traveled to Latvia aboard a U.S. government aircraft before flying from Riga to Moscow on a U.S. Air Force C-17 on Tuesday.
The CIA did not respond to Axios’ requests for comment.