Kremlin 'can't accept' US peace plan on Ukraine in current form

Moscow has described the latest US peace proposals as unacceptable, highlighting the limited progress Donald Trump has made on his promise to end the war in Ukraine since retaking office as the US president.

- Pjotr Sauer

Sergei Ryabkov, a foreign policy adviser to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said some of Moscow's main demands were not being addressed by the US proposals, in a rare acknowledgment that talks with the US had stalled recently.

"We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can't accept it all in its current form," Ryabkov was quoted by state media as saying.

"All we have today is an attempt to find some kind of framework that would first allow for a ceasefire - at least as envisioned by the Americans," Ryabkov said. "As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict."

As preconditions for a ceasefire, the Russian leader has insisted on terms that would, in effect, dismantle Ukraine as an independent state - pulling it firmly into Russia's sphere of influence.