Moscow prefers the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, as a venue for talks on Ukraine, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
In an interview with state-run Vesti TV, Ushakov also said the US should stop aid to Kiev if fighting stops.
Earlier, the Kremlin said it hoped that US-brokered talks to end the war in Ukraine would soon resume. Peskov made the statement after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed the prospects for ending the war by phone yesterday.
US envoys for peace talks on Ukraine Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner presented some good ideas during talks to end the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a few days ago, Reuters reported.
Over the weekend, Witkoff and Kushner visited both Russia and Ukraine. The two held several hours of talks with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the meetings did not lead to a breakthrough on the issue of ending the war, which has now entered its fifth year.
Zelensky told journalists in a WhatsApp media group that he planned to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump later in September and intends to discuss with him a package of measures to support Ukrainian air defenses in the winter.
„As for the peace package that Kushner talked about and the new ideas - I can tell you that there were indeed some very acceptable and noteworthy ideas“, Zelensky said. He did not give further details, saying that Kiev had agreed with US envoys to work on them first.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Indian journalists that Russia was confident that its victory in the conflict with Ukraine was “very close“.
“Yes, we are confident and we are sure that victory is very close,” Peskov said.
Ukraine and Russia continue to have disagreements over how to end the war. One of the main contentious issues is the fate of the remaining Ukrainian-controlled territories in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow has claimed but failed to seize despite years of fierce fighting.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have also been stalled for months. On the other hand, Zelensky said he was grateful to the US for its efforts to revive diplomatic process. He added that representatives of Ukraine, the United States and Europe will meet in the near future to prepare a trilateral meeting.
The next such meeting could be organized in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland or another country. Zelensky expects it to discuss grain supplies and energy infrastructure, among other issues, adding that Ukraine is ready for compromise.
He also said that it is necessary to continue negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war. “We need not just discuss, but to achieve concrete results,“ Zelensky added.