Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Vladimir Putin's proposal for a three-day ceasefire from May 8 to 10 as "the start of direct negotiations" with Kiev "without preconditions," while calling Ukraine's proposal for a ceasefire of at least 30 days "a precondition," the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to insist that Russia must take control of the four regions of Ukraine it has not fully occupied as part of a deal to end the war.
Citing sources, Bloomberg reports that Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy, tried to convince Putin to stop fighting along the current front lines during their recent meeting. However, the Kremlin leader remained firm in his stance.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for no territory to be "given" to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the war, while Washington is said to be considering recognizing regions occupied by Moscow.
"We all want this war to end fairly, without gifts to Putin, especially land," Zelensky said in a video conference during a summit hosted by Poland.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the US will end mediation in the conflict if "concrete proposals" do not come from Russia and Ukraine.
The countries that recently joined NATO, Sweden and Finland, have automatically become "targets" of Russian forces in possible retaliation. This was stated earlier by former Russian President and current Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev. These countries "are now in a hostile bloc towards us," Medvedev stressed.
"This means they have automatically become a target for our military, with possible retaliatory attacks and even a nuclear component," the former president said. (A2 Televizion)
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