Russia is open to peace with Ukraine but achieving “our goals” remains a priority, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, days after US president Donald Trump gave Moscow a deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.
Mr Peskov and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its western partners of stalling peace talks.
Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, with more drones launched in a single night than during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.
Mr Peskov told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin: “[Russian] president [Vladimir] Putin has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy.
“The main thing for us is to achieve our goals. Our goals are clear.”
The Kremlin has insisted any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join Nato and accept strict limits on its armed forces, demands Kyiv and its western allies have rejected.
In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his officials had proposed a new round of peace talks this week.
Russian state media reported on Sunday that no date had yet been set for the negotiations but that Istanbul would likely remain the host city.
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Mr Trump threatened Russia on July 14th with steep tariffs and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance towards Moscow after months of frustration following unsuccessful negotiations aimed at ending the war.
The direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul resulted in several rounds of prisoner exchanges, but little else.
Mr Trump said he would implement “severe tariffs” unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but suggested they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.
In addition, Mr Trump said European allies would buy “billions and billions” of dollars of US military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country’s supplies of weapons. Included in the plan are Patriot air defence systems, a top priority for Ukraine as it fends off Russian drones and missiles.
Doubts were recently raised about Mr Trump’s commitment to supply Ukraine when the Pentagon paused shipments over concerns that US stockpiles were running low.
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Elsewhere, Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 18 of 57 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight into Sunday, with seven more disappearing from radar.
Two women were injured in Zaporizhzhia, a southern Ukrainian region partly occupied by Russia, when a drone struck their house, according to the regional military administration.
Two more civilians were injured in Izyum, northeastern Ukraine, after a drone hit a residential building, local Ukrainian officials said.
Later on Sunday, drones struck a leafy square in the centre of Sumy, wounding a woman and her seven-year-old son, officials said.
The strike also damaged a power line, leaving some 100 households without electricity, according to Serhii Krivosheienko of the municipal military administration.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down 93 Ukrainian drones targeting Russian territory overnight, including at least 15 that appeared to be headed for Moscow.
Ten more drones were downed on the approach to the capital on Sunday, according to mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
He said one drone had struck a residential building in Zelenograd, on the outskirts of Moscow, damaging an apartment but causing no casualties. – AP
