MOSCOW: US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Russia this week, a Kremlin aide said on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump pushes for a speedy agreement to end the three-year Ukraine conflict.
Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours, has failed since his return to office three months ago to agree Russian President Vladimir Putin on a Ukraine ceasefire deal.
Trump said over the weekend he hoped a peace deal could be struck “this week” despite no signs the two sides were anywhere close to agreeing on even a ceasefire, let alone a wider long-term settlement.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Tuesday against rushing into a speedy ceasefire, telling a state TV reporter that the issue was too “complex” for a quick fix.
“It is not worth setting any rigid time frames and trying to get a settlement, a viable settlement, in a short timeframe,” he said.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov meanwhile told state media that Witkoff was expected this week in Moscow, his fourth visit to Russia since Trump took office.
Russian forces hold around a fifth of Ukrainian territory since the military offensive started in February 2022.
After rejecting a US-Ukrainian offer for a full and unconditional ceasefire last month, Putin announced a surprise Easter truce over the weekend.
Ukraine’s allies meeting in London
Ukraine’s allies will meet in London on Wednesday, a senior Kyiv official said as cited by AFP, when they are expected to continue discussions on the contours of a possible deal they could all get behind.
European leaders are scrambling to work out how to support Ukraine should Trump pull Washington’s vital military and financial backing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his team’s “first priority” at the London talks would be “an unconditional ceasefire”.
Zelensky proposed to Russia on Sunday to halt missile and drone strikes against civilian facilities for at least 30 days.
Putin said he would “analyse” the idea. However, later he accused Kyiv of using civilian facilities for military purposes.
He held open the prospect of bilateral talks on the topic, though the Kremlin said there were no fixed plans to engage with Kyiv.
“There are no concrete plans (to talk), there is readiness from Putin to discuss this question,” Peskov said Tuesday.
“If we are talking about civilian infrastructure, then we need to understand, when is it civilian infrastructure and when is it a military target,” he added. – Agencies
