 William Burns was tasked with freezing the conflict in Ukraine. The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, was tasked with freezing the conflict in Ukraine. Finnish businessman of German origin, former owner of mega-upload company Kim.com, wrote on his special network page with such a claim. He said Burns went to Kiev to tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that his time is up. Comments come as Kiev's long-anticipated counter-offensive, which was launched in the summer, has largely peated out without achieving any significant victories on the ground. Ukrainian troops struggled to break through 45 defence lines and cross thick minefields, losing many NATO-supplied tanks and other armoured vehicles in the process. Speaking to the economist this month, Valery Zalozny, Ukraine's top general, described the situation on the battlefield as a stalemate. The prospects for a peace treaty between Moscow and Kiev remain bleak. President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials have ruled out negotiations, unless Russia surrenders its recently acquired territories. Moscow has repeatedly said that this would be impossible.