U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of a demilitarized zone in the war and emphasized the importance of first securing a ceasefire.
"We agreed that a full and unconditional ceasefire must begin on Monday, May 12, for at least 30 days. We jointly demand this from Russia, and we know we are supported in this by the United States," Zelensky said.
Ukrainian media outlet ZN.UA reported on May 10 that their law enforcement sources confirmed an ongoing probe by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau into suspected embezzlement, money laundering and bribery.
Iran is preparing to send Russia Fath-360 short-range ballistic missile launchers, Reuters reported on May 9, citing Western security and regional officials familiar with the matter.
A model of a Soviet AN-602 thermonuclear aerial bomb also known as the Tsar Bomb, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested, sits at the Atom pavilion, a permanent exhibition centre designed to demonstrate Russia's main past and modern achievements of the nuclear power industry, at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre (VDNH) in Moscow on Dec. 6, 2023. (Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP via Getty Images)
Russia has yet to see any positive developments from the new U.S. administration regarding disarmament, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, said on Feb. 9.
He noted that while Moscow remains open to cooperation, there has been no progress within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament, an international forum that has previously negotiated key arms control agreements.
Gatilov reiterated Russia’s willingness to maintain stable relations with the U.S. administration but emphasized that Washington has yet to take concrete steps toward resuming arms control discussions.
"We expect that the Americans will move from words to action, especially since they have made numerous statements on the matter since January 20," he told Russian state media.
The remarks come as Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed hope that Donald Trump’s return to the White House could usher in a new phase in U.S.-Russia relations. Both leaders have indicated interest in an in-person meeting, with Trump emphasizing his intention to end the war in Ukraine.
Despite these signals, nuclear arms control discussions between Moscow and Washington remain stalled.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems for both countries, is set to expire on Feb. 5, 2026. With no active negotiations to extend or replace it, the treaty remains the last major nuclear arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Liliane Bivings
