The Kremlin said on Monday that talks aimed at resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict are currently on pause, but that Moscow anticipates they will restart in time. The comment was issued in response to remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump that linked recent deadly attacks to a slowdown in peace efforts.
President Trump told reporters on Friday that a Russian missile strike on a Kyiv apartment building, which killed 24 people including three children, had delayed efforts to reach a settlement in the four-year conflict. The Kremlin's response emphasized a different line of focus.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said attention should instead be paid to strikes by Ukraine on civilian targets inside Russia. The statement did not offer new details beyond urging attention to those strikes.
Separately, Moscow reported it had endured its largest drone attack in more than a year over the weekend. Russian authorities said the assault resulted in at least three fatalities in the broader region surrounding the capital. The Kremlin did not link those weekend fatalities directly to the pause in peace discussions in its public remarks.
The exchanges of public statements between U.S. leadership and Russian officials followed the deadly strike in Kyiv and the subsequent reporting of the drone attack near Moscow. Officials on all sides have so far presented differing emphases on which incidents should frame the narrative around the stalled talks.
No new timetable for renewed negotiations was provided in the Kremlin's comments. The declaration that the process is "on pause" but expected to resume conveys a temporary interruption rather than a permanent breakdown, according to Moscow's public stance.
Summary
The Kremlin said the peace process with Ukraine is temporarily paused but expected to resume, responding after U.S. President Donald Trump attributed a delay to a deadly strike on a Kyiv apartment building that killed 24 people. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov redirected focus to Ukrainian strikes on civilian targets in Russia. Separately, Moscow reported its largest drone attack in over a year at the weekend, with at least three deaths in the greater capital region.