Russia Accuses Ukraine of Being Less Willing to Find Solution to End War

Russia's presidential press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday blamed Ukraine for being less willing to find a solution to end the war and reach a potential peace deal, while also saying that Russia is exerting more "colossal effort."

"Our delegation is putting in colossal effort and demonstrates more readiness towards them than the other side," Peskov said, Reuters reported.

"Agreeing such a document, the observance of all its parameters and their implementation could very quickly stop what is happening," he added.

Peskov also said that Ukraine "is in no rush" to make a peace deal and that the Russian delegation is ready to exert further efforts, per Bloomberg.

His remarks come following Russia's invasion of Ukraine that has continued for over three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to launch a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" the Eastern European country.

Shortly after Putin's announcement, Russian ground and air forces moved forward into territories controlled by the government in Kyiv late last month, while a Ukrainian Interior Ministry source reported hundreds of casualties after Russia's first missile attack.

Peskov also said on Thursday that the Kremlin will announce progress on a possible peace plan when there is any to report.

On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that there was progress made in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and that both countries are getting closer to reaching an agreement, including a potential ceasefire.

But Peskov dismissed reports of progress in peace talks and said that "it is not right—there are elements there that are right but on the whole it is incorrect." He didn't reveal further details about the right elements.

He also said that U.S. President Joe Biden shouldn't have called Putin a "war criminal" and accused America of being involved in conflicts worldwide.

On Wednesday, Biden condemned the war on Ukraine and told reporters that Putin "is a war criminal" for his invasion of the Eastern European country.

Several countries have described Putin's military attacks in Ukraine as war crimes, but this marked the first time that the U.S. characterized it as so. The White House later said that Biden was "speaking from the heart," reported the BBC.

"We believe such rhetoric to be unacceptable and unforgivable on the part of the head of a state, whose bombs have killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world," Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass on Wednesday.

Russian forces continue to launch attacks across Ukraine. Last week saw the Russian bombing of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol that killed three people and injured at least 17.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led over 1 million Ukrainians to leave the country in search of safety as they headed to neighboring nations such as Poland. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that around 4 million people could flee Ukraine due to the conflict.

Newsweek contacted the Ukrainian foreign ministry and will update the story once a response is received.