The end of the Russia–Ukraine war is not just around the corner, and negotiators still face several complexities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 30.
At a press briefing, Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin remains interested in a cease-fire and eventual peaceful settlement to the conflict.
“But before doing this, it is necessary to answer a number of questions and resolve a whole series of nuances,” the spokesman said.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has now been in office for more than 100 days, made settling the ongoing war a focal point in his 2024 campaign, and at times on the campaign trail, he suggested that he could negotiate an end to the conflict within 24 hours of taking office.
However, in his comments to reporters on April 30, Peskov suggested that a deal will still take time to finalize.
“We understand that Washington is willing to achieve a quick success in this process, but at the same time, we hope for understanding that the settlement in [the] Ukrainian crisis is too complicated to be done overnight,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
The Kremlin has sought to bar Ukrainian entry into NATO and has raised concerns that Ukraine poses a continuing threat to Russian national interests. On April 30, Peskov said Putin had tried to resolve these concerns peacefully before launching Russian forces into Ukraine in 2022.
Peskov said the Russian president remains committed to his war goals and to preserving Russian national interests.
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly acknowledged the possibility that Putin may be dragging out the peace talks.
The Russian and Ukrainian leaders have also clashed over competing proposals for a temporary cease-fire.
Last month, Ukraine and Russia both expressed interest in a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day cease-fire, but Putin raised questions about its implementation and has yet to fully agree to the offer.
Russia and Ukraine both affirmed their support for a more limited 30-day moratorium barring strikes on each other’s energy facilities. Still, Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of continued violations of this limited truce.
On April 28, Putin unilaterally announced that Russia would observe a three-day cease-fire from May 8 to May 10.
On April 29, the Kremlin said it was still waiting for a clear answer from the Ukrainian side on whether Kyiv would observe this temporary cease-fire.
Responding to Putin’s new three-day cease-fire pitch, Zelenskyy questioned why the Russian leader hadn’t accepted a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day cease-fire that was first offered in March.
