Kremlin comments on latest peace initiative from US
Russia is not aware of any Ukrainian offer to establish a demilitarized zone along the current line of contact, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Wednesday.
His comment follows US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg saying Kiev was willing to set up such a zone.
“There have been no relevant statements by Kiev on the issue,” Peskov told the news agency.
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Kellogg stated that Kiev was “willing” to “freeze” the hostilities along the current line of contact and “to set up a demilitarized zone” that would require each side to retreat 15 kilometers from the current front lines.
“So, you’ve got this 30-kilometer, 18-mile-[wide] zone that you can actually observe,” the special envoy said. Ukraine has not made any official statements on the issue.
Kiev has repeatedly demanded an immediate 30-day ceasefire over the past few months but has not mentioned a demilitarized zone in its statements.
In March, Russia and Ukraine both agreed to a US-brokered 30-day partial ceasefire focused on halting strikes on energy infrastructure. Kiev, however, violated the truce on numerous occasions, according to the Russian military.
Moscow also unilaterally announced a pause during Easter weekend in April. The initiative was only partially successful. Although a certain lull in the hostilities was observed, Kiev violated the truce more than 3,900 times, according to the Russian Defense Ministry’s estimates.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the nation’s forces would suspend all offensive operations from midnight on May 7-8 to midnight on May 10-11 as part of another unilaterally announced truce to mark the 80th anniversary of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Moscow also expressed its hope at the time that the ceasefire could contribute to the “start of direct negotiations with Kiev without preconditions.”
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky dismissed the move as “manipulation” while Kiev ramped up its drone attacks on Russian territory, which killed 15 and injured more than 140 people. The Kremlin has said that an increase in strikes will not affect the ceasefire plans.
