Russia Welcomes America's New Era In Trump's Hands After Arguing With Zelenskyy

JAKARTA - The Kremlin praised the administration of United States President Donald Trump for trying to understand the "roots of the cause" of the Ukrainian conflict.

The statement is one of the clearest confessions from the Kremlin regarding major changes to US war policy since Trump took office five weeks ago.

Inverting US efforts for three years to punish and isolate Moscow under Joe Biden's administration, Trump moved quickly to improve relations with President Vladimir Putin and support some of the Kremlin's narratives about the conflict.

Last week Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator" and declared it Kyiv it was Kyiv who started the war, which started exactly three years ago when Putin announced a "special military operation" and sent his troops to Ukraine.

When asked about Trump's comments blaming Zelenskyy and Biden, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Trump administration itself confirmed it was changing its approach to Russia.

"Secondly, we hope Washington will fully analyze the root cause of the Ukraine conflict. This is actually what we are trying to get our opponents in Europe to pay attention to, and what they have always rejected, just like the previous Washington government," Peskov said.

Russia has long argued it was forced to wage a war to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and defend itself by ensuring Ukraine cannot join NATO.

Ukraine and Western countries say this is a pretext for confiscation of colonial-style soil.

"Without an analysis and an in-depth understanding of the root causes of the conflict around Ukraine, it is basically impossible to achieve a good (peace) settlement," Peskov said.

"And here we look at Washington's efforts to really understand what caused this conflict, and we hope this analysis will help efforts in the context of conflict resolution," Peskov said.

In contrast, Peskov said there is currently no basis for Russia to continue dialogue with European countries, which on Monday imposed another sanction package on Moscow, including a ban on aluminum imports. He called the sanction "completely predictable".

Critics against Trump accused him of selling Ukraine by admitting important points of negotiations even before talks began.

Ukraine and its European allies fear the hasty Putin-Trump deal that will rule out and undermine their security.

Trump officials say the US approach only recognizes the reality of the situation and aims to stop the bloodshed.

Peskov said the next contact with the US, which is expected to take place this weekend, will focus on addressing "interrupting things" in bilateral relations and "unblocking" the work of their embassy, which has been plagued by disputes over diplomatic property and staff counts.

He said the Russian Foreign Ministry would soon announce where and when the next negotiations would be held.