The Kremlin has said that “certain progress” has been made in talks on a possible peace settlement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“We believe that certain progress can already be stated, it is progress related to the temporary moratorium that Russia adhered to regarding the ban on strikes on energy infrastructure facilities. So certain developments are already in place, but there are a lot of difficult discussions ahead,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 18 April.
He said this while commenting on the words of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that the United States might stop trying to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine if there were no clear signs that an agreement could be concluded.
On 18 April, before departing Paris, where talks involving Ukraine, the United States, France, Britain and Germany had been held the previous day, Rubio said the United States expected the outcome of negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine “in the coming days, not weeks,” and if that did not happen, it would be forced to focus on other priorities.
“I’m talking about issues of days, not weeks, whether this is a war that can be ended or not. If it is possible, we are prepared to do what we can to contribute to it and make sure that it happens so that it ends in a long-term and just way. If that’s not possible, if we’re so far apart that it’s not going to happen, then I think the president is probably at the point where he’s going to say, ‘Well, we’re done,'” the secretary of state added.
US President Donald Trump said the day before that he expects to hear Russia’s position on the ceasefire by the end of the week.
Recently, US President Donald Trump has said several times that Russia needs to move from words to deeds and show its desire for peace. At the same time, the US president said that the responsibility for the war lies not only with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who unleashed it, but also with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump’s predecessor as US president, Joe Biden, who, according to Trump, did nothing to avoid it.