UPDATE - Russia agrees with Trump's assessment that peace in Ukraine 'much closer': Kremlin

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY PESKOV

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow agrees with US President Donald Trump's assessment that peace in Ukraine has become much closer and reached the final stages.

Asked at a press briefing in Moscow whether Russia agrees with Trump that Moscow and Kyiv are closer to a peace deal and talks are in the final stages, Peskov said: "Of course."

However, Peskov did not specify which version of the peace plan is currently being agreed upon.

"For now, we do not consider it necessary to provide details," he said.

Trump said Sunday that significant progress was made toward ending the Russia-Ukraine war following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Before the meeting, the US president called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and they agreed to speak again soon.

The Kremlin spokesman said Moscow will be able to fully assess the Trump-Zelenskyy talks after receiving information from the US.

According to him, Putin and Trump did not discuss the issue of a Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine, and the territorial issue remains the most difficult; Kyiv's decision on Donbas is necessary to stop the fighting.

Peskov declined to reply to a question about whether Russia still demands that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

He also said that Putin and Trump are expected to talk over the phone in the near future, while no contacts are planned between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Commenting on Zelenskyy's remarks urging Russia to prepare a "Plan B," Peskov said he does not understand what he means.

"Russia thinks about ending the military conflict in the context of achieving its goals," he said.

The Kremlin spokesman also recalled Trump's words that Kyiv is losing territory and will continue to lose it.

"And tomorrow the situation will be different from the one today," he warned.

Peskov said Moscow considers it inappropriate to publicly comment on ideas regarding the creation of a free economic zone in Donbas and the joint management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which are allegedly included in the American peace plan.

He also said that Europeans look to be discontent with their leaders' policy on Ukraine.

"It is obvious that serious discontent exists with the fact that more and more EU leaders, eager to continue the war, are digging into their taxpayers' pockets. And this discontent is growing," he claimed.

He expects that citizens of EU countries "will have to put up with" their current leaders.

"To what extent European citizens can 'remove' someone before the next elections—it is unlikely they have such rights," he said, adding that the leaders of EU countries "will have a hard time in the next elections."