We're in, but what about 'questions hanging in the air': Putin's reply on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to have a ceasefire in Ukraine but the Kremlin informs that there are still major hurdles to overcome for any deal to be reached. "Putin favours a ceasefire agreement, however many questions go unanswered," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told us on Monday citing unresolved details.

Diplomatic efforts hitting a roadblock

Though diplomatic initiative has been proceeding, US President Donald Trump continues to fail in brokering a breakthrough following repeated interactions with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Peskov ruled out the cause of the standstill as being due to "the uncontrollability of the Kyiv regime," further reporting that "all these questions hover in the air, so yet nobody has asked an answer of them."

Trump's frustration with Putin

Trump himself has been angered by the situation, saying in a March interview with NBC News that he was "pissed off" with Putin. At the weekend, he restated his objections, saying, "We're talking to Russia. We'd like them to stop. I don't like the bombing. The bombing goes on and on." In March, Moscow rejected a US-Ukraine joint offer of an unconditional ceasefire. Furthermore, Russia has tied any truce in the Black Sea area to the removal of certain Western sanctions.

US-Russia tensions over ceasefire

Moscow spurned a bid by the US and Ukraine jointly to offer an unconditional ceasefire in March. Russia has also attached any Black Sea truce with the lifting of some Western sanctions. This added to the complicated diplomatic process.