Russia slams Trump’s Ukraine war negotiation deadline as ‘an exercise in futility’

WASHINGTON — Russia rejected President Trump’s demands to end its war on Ukraine this week, with the Kremlin’s top spokesman telling reporters that setting “hard deadlines” is “an exercise in futility” — in Moscow’s latest attempt to stall peace negotiations.

Trump on Friday said he was ready to move on from his push for peace in Ukraine should a deal not come together “within days.”

On Monday, he told reporters he would reveal more about the plan by Thursday.

But spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said Russia was not aware of the plan’s terms, responding to a report by The Post about early details of a proposed arrangement.

“The issue of the [Ukrainian] settlement is extremely complex, of course, so it is hardly possible to set some hard deadlines and try to rush the resolution of the conflict into a shortened timeframe,” he told Russian outlet VGTRK. “This would be an exercise in futility.”

Still, he said Moscow will “continue our contacts with the Americans through various channels.”

Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff planned on visiting Russia this week to hammer out the final details of an agreement, according to a senior administration official. However, none had been scheduled as of Tuesday.

“As usual, we will inform you when such a visit takes place,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

He also indicated that Moscow may be ready to take on talks directly with Ukraine — and they may have to if Trump follows through on his threat to abandon his peace talks initiative.

“(Russian President Vladimir Putin) said that we should think about the idea of stopping strikes on civilian infrastructure, Peskov said.

“It was clarified that we are talking about negotiations in a bilateral format with Ukraine,” he continued.

“But Russia has repeatedly said that such negotiations are impossible, because they are formally banned in Ukraine.”

The statement was also a rare acknowledgement by Russia of its purposeful strikes targeting civilian locations.

Peskov argued they did not constitute war crimes if a strike is made in “retribution.”

“If we talk about civilian objects, we need to differentiate in which cases these objects can be targets, and in which cases they cannot,” he said.

He gave the example of a recent missile strike targeting civilians in Sumy that killed 35 people on their way to Palm Sunday service.

Peskov claimed the assault — the most deadly of the year — was justified because the Ukrainian Armed Forces had held a ceremony there.

“Everyone is well aware of the strike by our Armed Forces on a congress centre, I think, in Sumy Region. Is it a civilian facility or not? Civilian,” Putin said.

“But there was an award ceremony for those who committed crimes in Kursk Region.”