‘Moscow agrees with Trump that Ukraine is holding up peace deal’

Moscow: Moscow agrees with US President Donald Trump’s view that Ukraine is holding up a peace deal to end the almost four years of fighting since Russia invaded its neighbour, a Kremlin official said Thursday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “Yes, we can agree with it, it’s indeed so.” His comments came after Trump said in published remarks Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an obstacle in US-led peace talks.

That assessment is at odds with the sentiment of European officials, who have repeatedly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of stalling in negotiations while his bigger army tries to push deeper into Ukraine and Russia relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv and Moscow still appear publicly far apart on their terms for a peace deal. “I think he’s ready to make a deal,” Trump was quoted as saying of the Russian president in an interview with Reuters. “I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal,” he said, naming Zelenskyy as obstructing a settlement.