Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any call between Trump and Putin. PHOTO: AFP/ File
MOSCOW/KYIV:
Russia said Wednesday that ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine were “serious”, after earlier welcoming parts of a new US plan to halt the deadliest fighting in Europe since World War II.
A deal was still a long way off, Russian officials warned, with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff due in Moscow next week for further talks.
But the negotiations were “ongoing, the process is serious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in televised comments.
Washington has not published its new plan, which Trump has called a “fine-tuned” update of a previous 28-point proposal firmly rejected by an alarmed Kyiv and its European allies for being, they said, a Kremlin wish-list.
In comments to a Russian state TV reporter, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the draft required “truly serious analysis” and that Russia had not yet discussed it with anyone.
“Some aspects can be viewed positively, but many require special discussions among experts,” he said.
Miles away from the talks on ending nearly four years of war with Russia, problems have mounted for Ukraine where they matter most — at the front, according to soldiers and analysts.
The Donbas industrial and mining area, comprising the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, is the Kremlin’s primary target.
And after nearly four years of invasion, Russia — which occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory — has never been closer to that goal.
“I can’t remember the enemy advancing at such a speed for a long time,” Maksym Zhorin, an officer in the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps said on Telegram.
“The situation is only getting worse,” he warned.
