Russia reportedly dismissed the notion of cease-fire talks with Ukraine Friday, reasoning the West's refusal to recognize "new territories" had complicated the prospects for peace.
Earlier in the day, there had been media chatter of President Joe Biden possibly meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin for diplomatic purposes.
However, the necessity for talks reportedly cooled after the Kremlin said it wouldn't be pulling troops out of Ukraine anytime soon.
According to the BBC, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was not ready to accept the U.S. conditions for ending the war.
"What did President Biden say in fact? He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine," said Peskov.
Back in September, Russia "illegally annexed" four Ukrainian regions, according to the BBC; but since then, Russia has reportedly lost "more than half" the land it had previously seized.
BBC's findings could be an extension of another Friday report, claiming that Russia has begun vacating its military forces from crucial positions in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, speculated Russia's troops withdrawal in the southeastern region may indicate Putin has doubts about holding the front lines in that part of Ukraine.
The United States hasn't been alone in attempting to establish peace talks. Germany has also made efforts to entice Putin into ending the war with Ukraine.
On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Putin. For the hour-long call, Scholz reportedly urged Putin to create a diplomatic resolution which involved pulling Russian troops out of Ukraine "as soon as possible."
In response, the Kremlin said Kyiv "rejected" the original framework of peace talks.
In advance of the Scholz-Putin call, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complained that European countries had offered nothing concrete, regarding wartime mediation.
"[French President Emmanuel] Macron, by the way, has been regularly stating over the last two weeks that he was planning a conversation with the Russian president," said Lavrov.
On Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani reiterated the time for peace had come with Russia and Ukraine, but it must also involve independence for Kyiv — and not its surrender.
The Kremlin must "now give concrete signals instead of bombing the population," Tajani told la Repubblica newspaper.
And Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, loosely suggested that "before next spring" a clearer picture would emerge of how a truce could be brokered between Russia and Ukraine.
Wartime estimates, regarding injuries and deaths, can vary among the different parties.
A senior Ukrainian official estimated that as many as 13,000 Ukraine soldiers have been killed since the onset of the war with Russia, according to the BBC.
And last month, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley approximated that 100,000 soldiers from both Russia and Ukraine have either been killed or wounded since the war launched on Feb. 24.
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