Earlier, we reported the latest from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. We can now bring you more of what he said.
Peskov said there were contacts between Russia and the United States, but no negotiations over the 28-point plan put forward by Washington.
"We can't add anything new to what was said in Anchorage," he said, referring to an August summit in Alaska between Putin and Trump.
"As such, consultations are not currently underway. There are contacts, of course, but there is no process that could be called consultations."
Peskov added that "a settlement must lead to the elimination of the root causes of this conflict".
Russia's characterisation of those root causes is at odds with the view from Ukraine and its allies.
Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.
Ukraine and Western European leaders say Russia launched an unprovoked invasion, casting the war as an imperial-style land grab by an autocrat intent on dominating Russia's neighbours and weakening the West.
His departure would mean the loss of a key advocate for Ukraine in the Trump administration.
Special presidential envoy is a temporary designation, and such envoys in theory must be confirmed by the Senate to stay in their positions past 360 days.
Kellogg has indicated that January would be a natural departure point, given existing legislation, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The retired lieutenant general was widely viewed by European diplomats, Ukrainians included, as a sympathetic ear in an administration that has at times leaned toward Moscow's view on the origins of the war in Ukraine.
That latest U.S. framework proposal was spearheaded by U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff, and it does not appear that Kellogg had a role in its drafting.
The White House and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
It was not immediately clear who, if anyone, would replace Kellogg.
Ukraine received 1,000 bodies of what Russia says are fallen Ukrainian servicemen, Kyiv's prisoner-of-war coordination centre said on Thursday.
"Investigators from law enforcement bodies, together with expert agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will soon conduct all necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies," the centre's post said on the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv and Moscow have conducted swaps of thousands of fallen soldiers during the war.
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of returning bodies in a disorderly way, and of sometimes sending the bodies of Russian soldiers. Moscow has denied this.
Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022, occupies almost a fifth of Ukraine.
Moscow says it will not end the war unless Ukraine cedes additional land, accepts permanent neutrality, and cuts its armed forces.
Ukraine says that would amount to capitulation and leave it unprotected should Russia attack again.
Russian troops have been inching forward and are poised to finally capture their first substantial city in nearly two years, the ruined eastern railway hub of Pokrovsk.
After the early months, when Ukraine fended off a Russian assault on Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory, the war has settled for three years into a relentless grind along a 1,000-km (621-mile) front line, with huge losses on both sides.
A Ukrainian counterattack stalled in 2023, and since then, Moscow has made slow but relentless progress, with the enemies separated across a charred no-man's land, hunting each other's forces down with drones.
Pokrovsk, once home to 60,000 people, would be Russia's first big prize since early 2024.
Moscow says its capture will lead to further battlefield gains, giving it no reason to halt fighting without big concessions.
Kyiv says the Russian advances have only limited strategic significance, but it lacks the capability to halt them.
Russia's Arctic LNG 2 plant has loaded another shipment of liquefied natural gas, its 14th this year, as it continues production despite Western sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine.
The Buran tanker collected the cargo between November 18 and 19, data from analytics firms LSEG and Kpler showed.
The tanker's owner and commercial manager are both registered in Moscow, shipping database Equasis shows.
The Russian plant has delivered 14 cargoes so far this year to China's Beihai terminal in the southern Guangxi region.
The first speaker is 45-year-old civil servant Olha Pakhomova, who said:
"I do not consider these conditions acceptable, and I do not think that even if such an agreement is conditionally reached at the level of heads of state, that it will be accepted by the people, by the military, and those who have already given and are giving a lot for this."
Next, 50-year-old hospital administrator Olha Cherednyk:
"I do not think that Zelenskiy will sign any peace agreements on such terms for several reasons. First, he is populist enough not to do this; he knows that this will be a very unpopular thing in Ukraine. And second, he is, despite everything, patriotic enough to (not) do such things."
Finally, 34-year-old civil servant Oleksii Denysenko said:
"I do not know if Zelenskiy will agree to such terms. I hope not. Of course, these conditions are not acceptable for Ukraine. I believe that Ukraine should return to the borders of 1991, at a minimum. Of course, we need to finish off the aggressor and pressure him, because I am sure that if we give them any concessions now, they will return in any way, as was the case in Chechnya."
.jpeg)
0 Comments