Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin responds to US threat to abandon peace talks while Kyiv nears Trump minerals deal
The Kremlin has responded to US threats that it will abandon peace talks between Russia and Ukraine within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be reached.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Donald Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities around the world and was willing to move on unless there were signs of progress.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted some progress on a peace settlement had already been made and claimed Russia was striving to resolve the conflict. He said that Moscow remained open to dialogue with Washington but that contacts were difficult.
Ukrainian officials announced they had signed an outline of a minerals deal with the US and that a final accord could be reached by the end of next week.
On the war front, a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed one person and wounded 82 others, including six children, on Friday morning, officials said.
Amid rising attacks on his country, President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused China of supplying weapons, including gunpowder and artillery, to Russia in fresh allegations of Beijing’s involvement in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
China’s foreign ministry dismissed the accusation as groundless.
