Russia claims Ukraine peace deal 'close' — as it rejects ceasefire and escalates attacks
Russia and Ukraine, with U.S. mediation, are close to reaching a diplomatic settlement to end Moscow's war, Kirill Dmitriev, Russia's senior economic negotiator, claimed on Oct. 24.
The claim contradicts Moscow's actual negotiating stance, as Russia continues to reject any compromise and insists on its maximalist demands, including Ukraine's surrender of the entire Donetsk Oblast as a precondition for peace.
"I believe Russia and the U.S. and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution (to Moscow's war)," Dmitriev told CNN, offering no details about potential terms.
Dmitriev arrived in the U.S. just days after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed his first sanctions on Russia, citing Moscow's lack of progress in ending its war against Ukraine.
Russia's rigid negotiating position led to the cancellation of Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned summit with Trump in Budapest, with Trump saying he did not want "a wasted meeting."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Oct. 20 that Russia's stance on ending hostilities along the current front lines, which Washington and Ukraine support, "has not changed."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Oct. 21 that Moscow would not end hostilities without a "comprehensive peace agreement," arguing that halting the war now would mean "forgetting the root causes of this conflict."
Dmitriev's claim also comes as Russia intensifies attacks on Ukraine, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure daily. Overnight on Oct. 25, Russia launched a ballistic missile barrage against Kyiv, killing at least two people and injuring 12.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said Russia's attacks on civilian energy infrastructure are driving Ukraine "toward a humanitarian disaster." Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia aims to collapse the national power grid ahead of winter and the heating season.
Dmitriev, who heads Russia's Direct Investment Fund, has long been involved in the Kremlin's backchannel outreach to Washington. He visited the U.S. in April and joined talks in Alaska in August.
During his current trip, he is expected to meet Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami on Oct. 25 to discuss U.S.-Russia relations, according to Axios.
