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The U.S. may ask Ukraine to halt attacks ahead of visits by U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin said Friday.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not hold direct talks with Ukraine on suspending attacks before the envoys’ visit.
“The Americans will probably demand that the Ukrainians cease their terrorist attacks,” Peskov said, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksey Goncharenko said on Telegram that Witkoff and Kushner are expected to visit Moscow on Saturday before traveling to Kyiv on Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that he expects U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys in Kyiv “in the coming days.”
Peskov said there are currently no concrete conditions for reaching a peace settlement in Ukraine, but added that work toward an agreement is continuing.
He also said Ukraine’s militarization, including plans to produce long-range missiles, would create problems for Ukrainians themselves.
Witkoff and Kushner have never visited Kyiv, while both have traveled to Moscow several times since U.S.-mediated peace talks began.
Their most recent visit to Moscow was on Jan. 22, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
Moscow and Kyiv later held three rounds of U.S.-mediated peace talks on Jan. 23-24, Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 17-18. The first two rounds were held in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.
Negotiations have since been paused, with both Moscow and Kyiv attributing the halt to the U.S. war with Iran, which began in late February.
Peskov also rejected Germany’s accusations against Russia over the Leipzig incident, calling them unfounded.
“We have noted that the accusations against the Russian Federation were completely unfounded,” he said. “We categorically reject these accusations and consider them completely empty, lacking any convincing arguments.”
Peskov also criticized Berlin over its response to the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
He said Germany had not said a “single word” to Ukraine over the incident and argued that Berlin “took no such actions when those who blew up Nord Stream were caught red-handed.”
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