Zelenskiy says US talks "positive," Russian response to truce offer was strikes

• Summary

• Zelenskiy says latest strikes are Moscow’s response to Easter ceasefire

• Says talks with U.S. negotiators were positive

• Stresses importance of security guarantees for Ukraine

KYIV, April 1 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised Russia for answering his offer of an Easter truce with airstrikes on Wednesday but ​he praised as “positive” fresh talks with U.S. mediators aimed at resolving the four-year conflict.

Zelenskiy held talks remotely on Wednesday with U.S. ‌special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner - President Donald Trump’s son-in-law - and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham as part of ongoing U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also joined the call, amid ongoing tensions between Washington and some of its partners in the military alliance.

In his nightly video address ​after the call, Zelenskiy thanked America for its efforts to bring peace and said the Ukrainian and U.S. teams had agreed to strengthen ​a document outlining U.S. security guarantees for any future peace deal.

“This is precisely what could pave the way for ⁠a reliable end to the war,” Zelenskiy said.

In recent weeks, Zelenskiy has said the U.S. was pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to bring a quick end to ​the conflict, which has fallen well below Iran in Washington’s priorities since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Tehran in late February.

Talks with Russia are deadlocked over ​the vital question of land, with Ukraine refusing to cede to Russian demands that it relinquish the remaining parts of the eastern, industrialized region of Donbas that Russia has been unable to conquer.

Zelenskiy said he spoke to U.S. negotiators about his offer of an Easter ceasefire to the Russian side. Easter, according to the Orthodox Christian calendar, the dominant ​faith in Ukraine and Russia, falls on April 12 this year.

Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday publicly rejected the proposal as a “PR stunt.” Zelenskiy said Russian ​forces fired more than 700 drones, many of them Iranian-designed “Shaheds,” on Wednesday, when parts of western and central Ukraine were targeted in a rare daytime attack.

“Russia is responding with ‘Shahed ‌drones’ and ⁠continues its terrorist operations against our energy sector, against our infrastructure,” Zelenskiy said, adding he had discussed with U.S. negotiators ways of advancing diplomacy.

“Other signals are needed, and a silence over Easter could be exactly the signal that tells everyone that diplomacy can be successful.”

SECURITY GUARANTEES

Zelenskiy said in an earlier Telegram post that he had also spoken with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday and briefed him on his ceasefire proposal as well as the status ​of the battlefield, where the Ukrainian military ​says it is holding back ⁠an intensified spring offensive by Russian forces.

“I informed Keir about the situation on the frontline: our positions are now much stronger,” Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine has recently stepped up strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. Roughly 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity has ​been halted, according to a Reuters calculation last week.

Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine was ready to suspend such ​strikes if Russia ⁠agrees to stop attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin reiterated that Ukraine should have withdrawn troops “yesterday” from the remainder of Donbas.

Ukraine sees ceasing hostilities at current front lines as a compromise and rejects Russia’s demands to pull back from the land it still controls in the Donetsk region, part of Donbas.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly ⁠called for ​a summit with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the territorial issue could only be discussed ​at the leaders’ level.

Following tense exchanges in recent days between U.S. and European officials, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on X on Wednesday that he spoke with Trump: “Constructive discussion and exchange ​of ideas on NATO, Ukraine and Iran”.

Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Writing by Yuliia Dysa and Ron Popeski; Editing by Joe Bavier, Toby Chopra and Deepa Babington

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