Russia invites Zelensky to Moscow for peace talks, Kremlin says no reply yet

Kemlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said that Moscow has not yet received a response to their invitation for Zelensky to come to Moscow

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia has once again invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Moscow for peace talks, as U.S.-led efforts to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine intensify.

Despite talks between both sides intensifying, major disagreements still remain, including over who gets what territory in any deal (AFP)

Kemlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said that Moscow has not yet received a response to their invitation for Zelensky to come to Moscow, Reuters reported, citing Interfax news agency.

The statement from the Kremlin came as both sides continued to exchange bodies of soldiers, and a rumour floated that Moscow and Kyiv have agreed to stop striking each other's energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a week-long pause in fighting in the Ukraine war, citing frigid weather conditions. Trump made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting while discussing the US government shutdown.

Last year, Zelensky rejected a similar invitation, saying he could not go to the capital of a nation that was firing missiles at his country every day. Further, he made a suggestion for Putin to visit Kyiv instead.

A new round of Abu Dhabi talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations is scheduled for Sunday. The talks are being pushed by US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday said that "very good things" were happening in the process, the report said.

Despite talks between both sides intensifying, major disagreements still remain, including over who gets what territory in any deal and the potential presence of international peacekeepers in post-war Ukraine. Futher both countries cannot reach an agreement regarding the fate of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

A day earlier, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that any meeting between Zelensky and Putin would have to be well prepared and results-oriented. He said Zelenskiy's safety would be guaranteed if he came to Moscow.

One issue that remains central to the peace talks is the disagreement over the control of the Donetsk region. Russia wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the roughly 20% of the Donetsk region which the Russian army does not control.

Meanwhile, Kyiv has said that it does not want to gift Moscow territory, which Russia has not won on the battlefield.

Kremlin aide Ushakov asserted on Thursday that the land issue is not the only obstacle left on the table. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov questioned the credibility of any security guarantees Washington might offer Ukraine under a potential deal, saying such assurances would not ensure lasting peace if they were aimed at keeping Ukraine’s current political leadership in power.

An unnamed U.S. official told Axios on Saturday that Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin were "very close" to setting up a meeting after the U.S.-mediated talks.