The Japan Times - Kremlin denies dragging out Ukraine peace talks

Moscow has for weeks defied Western pressure for a full, unconditional and immediate truce in Ukraine, where its more than three-year offensive has killed tens of thousands of people.

Despite direct talks in Istanbul with Ukrainian officials and a call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump earlier this week, the Kremlin has not yielded to pressure to halt its attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Moscow -- which holds the upper hand on the battlefield -- is trying to "buy time" to continue its offensive and grab more land.

After his call with Trump on Monday, Putin said that Russia would present its ideas of a "memorandum" on possible steps to peace to Kyiv.

"Nobody is interested in dragging out this process," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked about when the memorandum could be expected.

"Everyone is working dynamically," he added.

He also said Russia would put forward a "list of conditions for a ceasefire", saying this was agreed at the Istanbul talks.

Peskov gave no time frame on when the "memorandum" -- about which Zelensky said he had no details -- nor when ceasefire conditions would be published or handed over to Kyiv.

Kyiv had agreed to an unconditional ceasefire, which was first suggested by Trump, in March.

But Russia has consistently rejected a 30-day halt in fighting proposed by the West and outlined hardline demands for a wider peace settlement.

Despite the diplomatic flurry, fighting has raged on in Ukraine this week and both sides reported attacks Wednesday.

Russia said Ukraine had launched more than 150 drones, mostly at its border regions, but also at Moscow.

- Putin in Kursk -

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday he expected Moscow to present a Ukraine ceasefire outline "maybe in a number of a days" that he said would prove if it was serious or not about peace talks.

Rubio said Moscow would offer "just broad terms that would allow us to move towards a ceasefire" and for peace negotiations to continue.

The Vatican has been floated as a potential place for negotiations to take place, with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV would be willing to host such talks.

But the Kremlin said Wednesday that there has been no decision on a location.

In a show of defiance, the Kremlin on Wednesday announced Putin had visited the border Kursk region a day earlier.

The Russian leader rarely visits areas near the front line and his movements to border regions are often kept under wraps until he has returned.

Russia had deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea to counter attack Ukrainian forces, who had seized hundreds of square kilometres of territory there last year in a major setback for the Kremlin.

- Ukraine launches drones -

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said three of the dozens of drones fired by Ukraine were intercepted over the Russian capital in a barrage that lasted through Wednesday.

Some Moscow airports temporarily suspended flights due to the threat, and authorities were clearing fallen debris.

Ukrainian drones caused travel chaos in Russia earlier this month, forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and closing swathes of Russian air space ahead of the arrival of more than 25 foreign leaders for Moscow's Victory Day parade.

Ukraine's own air space has been fully closed since Russia launched its offensive in February 2022.

Kyiv said one overnight attack had struck a Russian factory in the western Oryol region that makes electronic parts for tanks and missiles.

"It specialises in the production of microcircuits, semiconductors and control components" used for tanks, missiles and other weapons, the head of Ukraine's Centre of Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalensko, said.

He said the plant had imported Western technology despite sanctions against Russia.

The governor of the Oryol region, Andrey Klychkov, confirmed the drone attack and said the site had been targeted.

S.Suzuki--JT