Donald Trump’s defence secretary Pete Hegseth robustly dismissed claims the US has taken a pro-Russia stance last night.
The new administration has refused to call Russia the aggressor even as the west tries to negotiate the end to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has also paused all military and intelligence aid to Kyiv as he tries to force Ukraine to the negotiation table, so he can end the war as soon as possible.
Although there are fears this will result in a deal more favourable to Russia, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to meet the US in Saudi Arabia to discuss peace talks.
Speaking to journalists during a meeting with his UK counterpart John Healey in the Pentagon, Hegseth said: “The press is interested in narratives. Our president is interested in peace. So we will get characterised one way or another: ‘Oh, your stance is pro-Russia or pro-’ ... it’s all garbage.”
He continued: “The President got elected to bring peace in this conflict, and he is working with both sides in a way that only President Trump can ... to bring them to the table to end the killing.”
His comments come after Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, heaped praise Trump’s “common sense” approach to the war at the weekend.
The Kremlin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov also welcomed the US’s stance after secretary of state Marco Rubio said the States sees the war as a “proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia”.
Peskov said: “We can and want to agree with it, and we agree with it. That’s the way it is. We have said this repeatedly. We have said that this is actually a conflict between Russia and the collective West. And the main country of the collective West is the United States of America.”
Meanwhile, Russia has attacked France and Britain’s plan to present a peace deal to Trump, which may involve deploying peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the European countries were trying to buy time for Ukraine.
She said: “In reality, we are dealing with an open desire to achieve a respite at any cost for the Kyiv regime in its death throes, for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and to prevent the collapse of the front.
“Firm agreements on a final settlement are necessary. Without all this, any respite or regrouping is absolutely unacceptable, as it will lead to exactly the opposite result.”