Kremlin Expects Trump to Pursue Diplomatic Path on Ukraine Despite Complexity
Moscow – The Kremlin expressed its hope on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump and his team will continue efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine through political and diplomatic means, acknowledging the situation’s complexity.
Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump has recently admitted that resolving the Ukraine conflict turned out to be more difficult than he had initially expected. “This is exactly what we’ve been saying from the very beginning – it’s impossible to solve everything overnight,” Peskov stated. “We hope that Trump and his team will continue their efforts to bring the Ukrainian settlement process to a political and diplomatic level.”
While Trump had previously claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, he recently conceded that the conflict is “more difficult than people would have any idea.”
Asked about reports that Trump had allegedly threatened to bomb Russia and China during campaign events last fall, Peskov said the Kremlin remains calm. “Trump generally has quite a tough style,” he noted, implying that such rhetoric did not cause alarm in Moscow.
On the broader situation, Peskov said that although Washington appears eager for a quick resolution, the inherent complexity of the conflict continues to delay progress. He confirmed that two rounds of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv had already taken place in Istanbul and that Russia still awaits Ukraine’s proposals for scheduling a third round.
Commenting on reports that Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi aims to reclaim territory in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, Peskov emphasized that Russian troops were continuing their operations. “Our forces are advancing and creating buffer zones to secure our regions,” he said.
