Kremlin says peace prospects not improved by Europe, Ukraine changes to US proposals

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide said on Sunday that ‍changes made by the Europeans and Ukraine to US proposals for an end to the war in Ukraine did not improve prospects for peace.

The US-drafted proposals for an end to the nearly four-year-old war, leaked to the media last month, raised European and Ukrainian concerns that they were tilted too far in Russia’s favor and that US President Donald Trump’s administration could push Kyiv into conceding too much.

 Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that the European and Ukrainian changes would not improve the chances of peace.

“This is not a forecast,” Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies, though he said he had not seen the exact proposals on paper yet.

“I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make definitely do not improve the document and do not improve the possibility of achieving long-term peace.”