MOSCOW 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the pause in settling the Ukrainian conflict is due to Kyiv's unwillingness to pursue a political and diplomatic path.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov accused the EU of provoking Ukraine to continue fighting.

"The main thing that is currently slowing down the settlement process is the pause that has arisen due to the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to follow the path of a political and diplomatic settlement, and due to the provocation of the Kyiv regime by the Europeans to continue further hostilities," he said.

Commenting on US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff's remarks about a lack of trust between Russia and Ukraine, Peskov confirmed this was the case.

"Of course, we cannot talk about any kind of mutual trust now. This is not a deficit of trust, but its absence," he said.

Peskov declined to comment on statements by US President Donald Trump, who said on Thursday that he had already ended eight armed conflicts since the beginning of the year and would like to add the Ukrainian settlement to his "successes," claiming Washington has already made "great progress" in this matter.

On the topic of a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Peskov said it will be in demand by both sides at a certain stage, but must be preceded by scrupulous work.

"We believe that at a certain stage, the summit will certainly be in demand by both sides. But this summit should be preceded by very intense, scrupulous expert work. Our American colleagues absolutely agree with us here," he said.

He added that any predictions about the timing of a Russian-American summit in Budapest are untenable.

The official also denied Western and Ukrainian media reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has "fallen out of favor" with President Vladimir Putin, stating they are completely untrue.

Regarding North Korea's missile tests, Peskov stressed that Russia respects the right of the Asian country to ensure its security by all necessary means.

"We respect the legitimate right of our friends in the DPRK to ensure their safety and take the necessary measures for this," he said.

He added that, concerning peacekeeping initiatives on the peninsula, Russia welcomes only those steps to normalize the situation that fully meet the interests of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The comments followed reports in South Korean and Japanese media about a ballistic missile launch by the DPRK in an easterly direction. Tokyo stated the missile landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone and has protested to Pyongyang.