The Kremlin on Wednesday said President Vladimir Putin is open to peace in Ukraine and intense work is going on with the United States, but noted that the conflict is so complicated that the rapid progress Washington wants is difficult to achieve.
US President Donald Trump, who said he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, have repeatedly made efforts to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine.
However, the US is signalling that it is frustrated by the failure of Moscow and Kyiv to reach terms to end the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
“The (Russian) president remains open to political and diplomatic methods of resolving this conflict,”; Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
He pointed out that Putin had expressed a willingness for direct talks with Ukraine, but that there had been no answer yet from Kyiv.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, after the Kremlin’s remark, said Ukraine was ready for peace talks in any format if Moscow signed up to an unconditional ceasefire.
Putin is said to have previously welcomed the idea in principle, but said that many issues need to be worked out in practice before such a ceasefire can be agreed.
The Kremlin said that Russia’s aims had to be achieved either way, saying Moscow’s preference was to achieve its aims peacefully.
