MOSCOW, May 9 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Saturday that the United States was in a rush to reach a 🏽 peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, but that reaching any kind of agreement was a long way off, 🏽 because the issues were too complicated and negotiations were basically at a standstill.
During four years of the deadliest European conflict since World War II, Russian forces have so far failed to take the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Kiev’s forces have been pushed into a line of fortress cities.
US President Donald Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine and called his failure to do so one of his biggest disappointments, although on Friday he announced a May 9-11 ceasefire to which Russia and Ukraine agreed.
Continues after advertising
“It is understandable that the American side is in a hurry,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.
‘But the question of a Ukrainian agreement is too complex, and reaching a peace agreement is a very long road with complex details,’ Peskov said.
Russian troops have been fighting in Ukraine for well over four years – longer than Soviet forces fought in World War II, known as the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 in Russia.
The ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia would include the suspension of all ‘kinetic activities’ and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each country, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“I would like to see a big extension,” Trump told reporters on Friday. ‘Could it be.’
The Kremlin said the agreement was for three days and that negotiations were still paused.
Continues after advertising
“Negotiations will likely resume, but it is not yet clear when,” said Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov. ‘There was an agreement for the VE Day ceasefire to last three days: May 9, 10 and 11.’
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin)
