Kremlin Says Peace in Ukraine is Still a Very Long Way Off

BBC

The Krimlen.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that the United States was moving quickly in an effort to secure a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, but stressed that any meaningful deal remained far off due to the complexity of the issues involved and the fact that negotiations were effectively stalled.

More than four years into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, Russian forces have still been unable to seize full control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s troops have retreated to heavily fortified defensive positions across a line of strategic cities.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to end the Ukraine war and has cast his failure to do so as one of his biggest disappointments, though on Friday he announced a ceasefire from May 9 to May 11 that Russia and Ukraine agreed to.

"It is understandable that the American side is in a hurry," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.

"But the issue of a Ukrainian settlement is far ‌too ⁠complex, and reaching a peace agreement is a very long way with complex details," Peskov said.

Russian troops have now been engaged in fighting in Ukraine for well over four years — a longer duration than the Soviet Union’s involvement in World War II, which is known in Russia as the “Great Patriotic War” of 1941–45.

The Ukraine-Russia ceasefire would include a suspension of all "kinetic activity" and a swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country, President Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

"I'd like to see ⁠a big extension," President Trump told reporters on Friday. "It could be."

The Kremlin said the agreement was for three days and that negotiations were still paused.

"Negotiations will probably resume, ⁠but it is still unclear when," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said. "There was an agreement that the Victory Day ceasefire would last for three days: May 9, 10, and 11."

Source: Reuters



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