KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥 Clinching a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war 鈥渋s far too complex to be done quickly,鈥 a senior Kremlin official said Wednesday, as the U.S. labors to bring momentum to peace efforts and expresses frustration over the slow progress.
Meanwhile, a nighttime Russian drone attack on Ukraine鈥檚 wounded at least 45 civilians, officials said. The United Nations reported that the number of Ukrainian civilian casualties in the more than three-year war has surged in recent weeks amid Washington’s attempts to broker a peace agreement.
Putin wants answers before committing to a ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin backs calls for a ceasefire before peace negotiations, 鈥渂ut before it鈥檚 done, it鈥檚 necessary to answer a few questions and sort out a few nuances,鈥 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Putin is also ready for direct talks with Ukraine without preconditions to seek a peace deal, he added.
鈥淲e realize that Washington wants to achieve quick progress, but we hope for understanding that the Ukrainian crisis settlement is far too complex to be done quickly,鈥 Peskov said on his daily conference call with reporters. 鈥淭here are many details and an array of small nuances that need to be solved before a settlement.鈥
U.S. President Donald Trump has previously over the slow pace of progress in negotiations aimed at stopping the war, which he said he could end in the first 24 hours of his new administration in January. Western European leaders have accused Putin of stalling while his forces seek to grab more Ukrainian land. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine鈥檚 territory since Moscow’s forces launched a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Trump has chided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for steps that he said were and the U.S. leader has rebuked Putin for complicating negotiations with in launching that battered the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Trump has long dismissed the war as a waste of American taxpayer money and lives lost in the conflict. Senior U.S. officials have warned that the administration could abandon the peace efforts if it sees no solution. That could spell an end to crucial military help for Ukraine and heavier economic sanctions on Russia.
US wants both sides to move faster
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday tried again to push both sides to move more quickly.
鈥淲e are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce quoted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as telling her.
鈥淗ow we proceed from here is a decision that belongs now to the president,鈥 she told reporters, relating a conversation that she had with Rubio. 鈥淚f there is no progress, we will step back as mediators in this process.鈥
Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt to Ukraine鈥檚 mobilization effort and Western arms supplies to Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Wednesday that Ukraine had accepted an unconditional truce only because it was being pushed back on the battlefield, where the bigger Russian forces have the upper hand.
鈥淚n the context of the developments on the ground, along the front line where the Kyiv regime is increasingly in retreat, they have made an about-turn and started demanding an immediate ceasefire without any preconditions,鈥 Lavrov said at a briefing in Rio de Janeiro where he was attending a .
He also suggested that Ukraine鈥檚 ceasefire promises weren’t credible. Both sides have accused each other of breaking previous truces. Independent verification of the battlefield claims wasn’t possible.
UN says Ukrainian civilian casualties are on the rise
Meanwhile, Ukrainian civilians have been killed or wounded in attacks every day this year, according to a U.N. report presented Tuesday in New York.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said in the report that in the first three months of this year, it had verified 2,641 civilian casualties in Ukraine. That was almost 900 more than during the same period last year.
Also, between April 1-24, civilian casualties in Ukraine were up 46% from the same weeks in 2024, it said.
The Ukrainian air force said that Russia fired 108 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine between Tuesday and Wednesday, predominantly at the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv.
Also Wednesday, the Ukrainian Security Service claimed its drones struck the Murom Instrument Engineering Plant in Russia鈥檚 Vladimir region overnight, causing five explosions and a fire.
The plant located east of Moscow produces ammunition ignition devices, as well as components and products for the Russian Navy and military aviation, a source at the agency told Associated Press. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack.
The claim could not be independently verified.
___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of the war in Ukraine at
