The Kremlin has dismissed the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine

The Kremlin has dismissed the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine and is pushing for a long-term peace settlement instead.

Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy adviser, said that a 30-day truce to pause the war was a “hasty step” that “is not in favour of a long-term settlement.”“I have stated our position that this is nothing other than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more,” he told Russian state media, adding that Russia is not interested in “any steps that imitate peaceful actions”.

After his statements, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said that Russia’s failure to provide a “meaningful” response to the ceasefire proposal “demonstrates that Russia seeks to prolong the war”.Steve Witkoff, a key negotiator in the Trump administration, landed in Moscow earlier this morning for talks with the Russian president, who will speak on the issue later today.

Moscow has reportedly presented the US with a list of demands for a deal to end the war, which the Kremlin did not deny when asked this morning.

They are thought to include no Nato membership for Kyiv, an agreement not to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine and international recognition of Crimea and four Ukrainian provinces as Russian territory, Reuters reported