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Putin: Points Can't Agree to in Plan 12/04 06:06
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that some proposals in a U.S. plan to
end the war in Ukraine are unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating that any
deal is still some way off despite intense shuttle diplomacy by American envoys.
(AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says that some proposals in a U.S.
plan to end the war in Ukraine are unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating that
any deal is still some way off despite intense shuttle diplomacy by American
envoys.
U.S. President Donald Trump has set in motion the most intense diplomatic
push to stop the fighting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its
neighbor nearly four years ago. But the peace efforts have once again run into
demands that are hard to reconcile, especially over whether Ukraine must give
up land to Russia and how it can be kept safe from any future Russian
aggression.
Putin said in comments published Thursday that his five-hour talks with U.S.
envoys this week were "necessary" and "useful," but also "difficult work." Some
of the proposals were unacceptable to the Kremlin, he said.
Meanwhile, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared
Kushner, are set to meet with Ukraine's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, on
Thursday in Miami for further talks, according to a senior Trump administration
official who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Putin spoke to the India Today TV channel before his visit to New Delhi on
Thursday. Before the full interview was broadcast, Russian state news agencies
Tass and RIA Novosti quoted some of Putin's remarks in it.
Tass quoted Putin as saying in the interview that at the talks in the
Kremlin on Tuesday, the sides "had to go through each point" of the U.S. peace
proposal, "which is why it took so long."
"This was a necessary conversation, a very concrete one," the Russian
president said.
There were provisions that Moscow said it was ready to discuss, while others
"we can't agree to," Putin said, adding "it's difficult work."
Trump said Wednesday that Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon
session confident that he wants to find an end to the war.
"Their impression was very strongly that he'd like to make a deal," Trump
said.
Putin refused to go into details as to what Russia could agree to and what
it finds unacceptable. None of the officials involved in the negotiations has
offered details of the talks.
"I think it is premature. Because it could simply disrupt the working
regime" of the peace effort, Tass quoted Putin as saying.
European leaders, left on the sidelines by Washington as U.S. officials
engage directly with Moscow and Kyiv, have accused Putin of feigning interest
in Trump's peace drive.
Russian barrages of civilian areas of Ukraine continued overnight into
Thursday. A ballistic missile struck Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night, wounding
six people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to city administration head
Oleksandr Vilkul.
He said that the strike damaged more than 40 residential buildings, a school
and domestic gas pipes in the city, which is Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy's hometown.
A 6-year-old girl died in Kherson, a southern port city, after Russian
artillery shelling wounded her the previous day.
"Doctors fought until the very end to save her life, but her injuries were
too severe," regional military administration chief Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on
Telegram.
Russia also struck Odesa with drones, wounding six people, while civilian
and energy infrastructure was damaged, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the
regional military administration.
Overall, Russia fired two ballistic missiles and 138 drones of various types
at Ukraine overnight, officials said.
Meanwhile, in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region, two men
were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike on their vehicle Thursday,
Moscow-installed regional leader Vladimir Saldo said.
A 68-year-old woman was also wounded in the attack, he said.
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