ISTANBUL 

The Kremlin on Thursday said that Russia sees the US as its “main counterpart” in negotiations on Ukraine.

“Our main counterpart in this process is Washington,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Russian state broadcaster Channel One.

During the interview, Peskov said that Kyiv will be involved in negotiations on a settlement in Ukraine “one way or another.”

Expressing that working contacts between Russia and the US will be expanded “in the coming days and weeks,” Peskov said the talks will be devoted to organizing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

Peskov further said that it is too early to say when Putin and Trump will take up the invitations to visit their respective countries. He noted that Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh was mentioned as a possible location for a future meeting between the two presidents.

He also said both presidents did not discuss the EU’s participation in negotiations on Ukraine, as well as Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.

The spokesman described the phone call between Trump and Putin as "constructive, businesslike and quite frank."

Peskov added that Putin will be happy to welcome leaders of major countries, including Trump, to Moscow if they wish to take part in Victory Day events to be held in Moscow on May 9.