Czechia sceptical about Russia's approach to ceasefire talks

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský is sceptical about Russia's approach to ceasefire talks.

As reported by Radio Prague International, European Pravda reports, Lipavský said at the end of a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels that Russia had failed to fulfil even the most elementary and simple things, such as a ceasefire on energy facilities.

He said that the criticism from some European countries should not be surprising, as it more or less reflects the Czech point of view.

The Czech foreign minister said that he had suggested seeing where the negotiations would lead but added that his confidence in the Russian approach was really very low.

On the same day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration of US President Donald Trump expects Russia to be ready to end the war.

He said that the US is currently looking at Russia, and added that if they have a "wait-and-see tactic", the US will not be interested in this, and Trump will not hold endless negotiations.

Senior officials in the Trump administration have begun to acknowledge that the United States may not be able to reach a peace agreement on Ukraine in the coming months due to additional conditions set by Moscow during negotiations.

Meanwhile, Trump told NBC News that he was furious after Putin questioned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy and suggested that the US could impose additional tariffs of 25-50% on buyers of Russian oil.

On 3 April, Russian Presidential Envoy for International Cooperation Kirill Dmitriev confirmed that he was in Washington to meet with US administration officials to "resume dialogue".