Russia on Sunday urged Kyiv to withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine should now take the “brave decision” to pull out of the Donbas “without delay”, the Kremlin’s diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Ukraine’s departure from the fifth of the eastern Donetsk region in the Donbas still under its control is a key Russian demand for any agreement.
Ushakov, speaking after a call between President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump, said the two leaders had agreed that any temporary ceasefire in Ukraine would simply prolong the conflict.
“Russia and the United States share the same position, which is that the Ukrainian and European proposal for a temporary ceasefire (…) would only prolong the conflict and lead to a resumption of hostilities,” he said.
Russia rejects any temporary halt to the fighting, arguing such a period would allow Ukraine to rearm.
Instead, it wants a final settlement addressing what it says are the root causes of the conflict.
Speaking ahead of Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida, Ushakov described the conversation between Putin and Trump as “friendly”.
The two leaders will speak again after the Florida talks, he added.
Sunday’s call had come at Trump’s initiative, Ushakov said, because the US president “wanted to discuss these questions before his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky”.
According to Ushakov, Trump had told Putin he wanted an end to the war “as rapidly as possible” because this would open up a perspective of “impressive cooperation with Ukraine and Russia”.
Putin, meanwhile, had accepted the idea of creating two special working groups for the settlement of the conflict, one charged with security questions, and the other with economic aspects, the advisor said.
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© Agence France-Presse
