American officials are growing disappointed with the Kremlin's rejection of US proposals to end the war in Ukraine.
This is stated in its daily analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The "New York Times" (NYT), citing European officials familiar with the American discussions in Paris on April 17, reported on April 18 that the US position on the ceasefire remains largely the same, but that Russian officials are "procrastinating" and insisting on additional conditions for the unconditional general ceasefire proposed by US President Donald Trump, including "denazification" of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin named "denazification" as one of his main goals when launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Russian officials have previously defined "denazification" as "eliminating those who instill" Russophobia in other people.
Putin and other Kremlin officials have since repeated this demand for "denazification" to call for regime change in Ukraine and the establishment of a pro-Russian puppet government.
On April 18, Axios reported that two European diplomats said that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told diplomats from the United Kingdom, Germany, and France that President Trump was "losing patience" and might walk away from the peace process if "not soon" no peace agreement is reached.
On April 18, Trump said he hoped to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine "quickly" and that if Ukraine or Russia " "If they continue to make it very difficult," then "we'll just pull back." On April 18, CNN reported that a source familiar with the Trump administration said the Trump administration was trying to schedule another meeting between U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Russian officials to discuss the proposed framework. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed extending Russian President Vladimir Putin's unilateral 30-hour ceasefire over Russian military operations in Ukraine to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire. On April 19, Ukraine and Russia carried out the largest prisoner exchange since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk, while Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk and Pokrovsk.