Russia: Peaceful Deal Must Be Achieved With Kyiv, Not Washington

JAKARTA - The Kremlin's Russian Presidential Palace on Wednesday (30/4) said the Russia-Ukraine peace agreement should be reached with Kyiv and not Washington, a day after the United States warned it would withdraw as a mediator for peace negotiations if there was no progress.

"The peace agreement must be finalized with Ukraine, not America," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, noting that direct contact between Putin and US President Donald Trump could be made if necessary.

Peskov also said his country thanked the US for its efforts to try to mediate a peace deal with Ukraine, and hoped it would work.

In addition, Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to accept proposals on the matter and Moscow understood the US wanted to achieve rapid results in the process.

"At the same time, we understand that the root cause of the Ukraine crisis is too complicated to resolve overnight. There are many differences to consider," he said.

The Kremlin says Putin remains open to political and diplomatic ways to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war, arguing they don't hear any reaction from Kyiv to the matter.

He also said it was "completely impossible" not to acknowledge the current situation on the ground regarding settlement discussions, while reminding Russia was still open to direct negotiations with Ukraine without preconditions.

"Unfortunately, we haven't heard any statements or comments from Kyiv yet, so we don't know if Kiev is ready for this or not," Peskov said.

In comment on Trump's Truth Social post on Saturday (26/4), Peskov said Putin supported the ceasefire initiative in Ukraine, but "a series of differences" needs to be resolved first.

In a post amid Russian missile attacks on a number of cities in Ukraine, Trump said there was "no reason" for the attacks to occur, which he said made him think maybe Putin "don't want to stop the war, he just ignores it."

Earlier on Tuesday (29/4), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Washington would step down as a mediator in ongoing peace negotiations if it did not see "concrete proposals" from Moscow and Kiev to end the conflict.