The Kremlin rejected allegations from a US envoy that it is delaying attempts to end its war on Ukraine, amid claims that Russia’s invasion force now controls the whole of its neighbour’s Luhansk region and has seized territory in Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time.
Keith Kellogg, a special envoy appointed by Donald Trump, decried as “Orwellian” the claims from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week that the pace of peace efforts depended on Washington and Kyiv.
“Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine,” Mr Kellogg said.
But Mr Peskov said on Tuesday: “No one is stalling anything.”
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Using Russia’s official term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, he also said: “Naturally, we are primarily interested in achieving the goals we have set for the special military operation through diplomacy. That is why we are not interested in stalling.
“Naturally, we are thankful for the efforts that Washington and the Trump team members are making to promote talks on the Ukrainian settlement.”
The US president’s administration has put intense public pressure on pro-western Ukraine to accept the need for painful concessions to Moscow, while showing deep reluctance to criticise the Kremlin or strengthen sanctions on Russia.
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US senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that Mr Trump had encouraged him to seek a vote in Congress on a new sanctions Bill that would impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries that continued to buy Russian oil.
Mr Peskov said of Mr Graham: “His position is well known to us, and it is well known to the whole world. He belongs to a group of inveterate Russophobes, and if it were up to him these sanctions would have been imposed long ago. Would that help the settlement? That is a question for those who initiate such actions.”
Kyiv continues to urge the US and European states to impose and enforce stricter economic sanctions on Russia and to expand and accelerate provision of weapons, ammunition and air defence systems to the Ukrainian military.
Despite high losses in troops and equipment, Russia continues to grind forward in parts of eastern Ukraine and has seized about 200 sq km of the northern Sumy in recent months.
Moscow-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine have now claimed that all of Luhansk region is under Russian control and that the village of Dachne has become the first territory in Dnipropetrovsk region to fall to the invasion force.
Kyiv has not confirmed either claim. Ukrainian forces have held only small parts Luhansk for several years, but if Russia has established full control there it would be the first entire region to fall to Moscow’s troops since they seized Crimea in 2014 with barely a shot being fired.
Ukrainian towns and cities are also coming under intense nightly bombardments from Russian missiles and drones.
Data from the country’s air force showed that Russia launched 5,337 Shahed-type drones against Ukraine last month, more than 1,100 more than in March, which was the previous record month.
The Shahed is a “kamikaze” drone with a warhead of between 15kg-50kg that explodes on impact. Russia received large numbers of them from Iran, but now makes its own version.
The warring neighbours traded missile and drone strikes early on Tuesday.
Sources in the Ukrainian security service said its long-range attack drones had hit Russia’s Kupol military plant in the city of Izhevsk, more than 1,000km from the front line.
Local governor Alexander Brechalov said three people had been killed and 35 injured in a drone strike on a factory that he did not name.
