Kremlin says freezing Ukraine war along current frontlines would be unacceptable

Russia will not accept the option of freezing the war in Ukraine along the current frontlines, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, quoted by state-affiliated news agency Interfax.

According to Peskov, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that he is “ready for contacts and negotiations”, but that “any option of freezing the conflict” would not suit Russia.

“It is important for us to achieve our goals, which are well known to everyone,” Peskov said when asked to comment on Wednesday’s report by Reuters, which said that Putin was open to discussing a ceasefire deal on Ukraine with incoming US president Donald Trump, in which the Kremlin “could broadly agree” to freezing the conflict along current frontlines.

In June, Putin outlined his terms for ending the war, which included Ukraine dropping its ambitions to join NATO and handing over four of its regions to Moscow in their entirety. Those conditions have already been flatly rejected by Kyiv.

However, as a concession, Russia may be open to withdrawing its army from small patches of territory it holds in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions in the north and south of Ukraine, according to two Russian officials cited by Reuters.

The agency’s sources added that US President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to allow Ukraine to fire US-supplied ATACMS missiles at Russian territory would likely “complicate and slow down” potential negotiations.

Tensions between Russia and the US continued to rise as Vladimir Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine on Tuesday to lower the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of attacks.

Speaking to Russian state news agency TASS on Wednesday, Peskov said that a phone hotline created during the Cold War to minimise crises between the Kremlin and the White House is not currently in use.