Kremlin says it hopes U.S.-mediated Ukraine peace talks will resume soon

Moscow, Russia. Russia hopes that U.S.-mediated peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine will resume soon, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. He said Moscow remained in contact with U.S. counterparts and that there was confirmed political will to restart negotiations.

Prospects for renewed talks

No talks between Russia and Ukraine have taken place since February. U.S. President Donald Trump sent negotiators to Moscow and Kyiv at the weekend in an effort to relaunch the stalled process.

Peskov was responding to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comment that it might be possible to develop a roadmap to restart talks and work towards an outcome acceptable to both sides.

A wide gap remains between Russia and Ukraine over how to end the 4½-year war, with Kyiv rejecting Moscow’s demands that it surrender additional territory.

Peskov said Moscow would not publicly discuss specifics of a potential settlement.

“We hope that these negotiations will resume in the foreseeable future, and we remain in contact with our American counterparts,” he said, a day after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone.

Prisoner exchanges

Peskov said prisoner exchanges between Russia and the United States were a constant item on the agenda, including in contacts between the two presidents.

He noted that Russia released U.S. prisoner Robert Gilman last month at Trump’s request. Russia and the United States have exchanged prisoners on several occasions in recent years.

The largest such exchange took place in August 2024, when Russia received eight prisoners held in the West, including an FSB security service member convicted of murder in Germany.

In return, 16 people were released from Russian and Belarusian prisons. Those freed by Moscow included prominent Russian dissidents and three U.S. citizens, including Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich.