Russia says it welcomes Iran ceasefire, hopes US will now resume Ukraine talks

The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed a two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran, and said Russia hopes that the U.S. will now have the time and scope to resume three-way peace talks on Ukraine.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We received the news of a truce with satisfaction. We welcome the decision not to proceed further down the path of armed escalation."

Asked about whether the Iran ceasefire may facilitate fresh talks on Ukraine, Peskov said: "We hope that, in the foreseeable future, (the U.S.) will have more time and greater opportunity to meet in a trilateral format," referring to talks held between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S.

Russia had previously said that Ukraine peace talks had been paused after the outbreak of hostilities in Iran.

Negotiations began last year in Istanbul and three-way talks with the U.S. were held at the start of this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva.

But progress has been slow, in large part because of an impasse over territory. Russia demands that Ukraine give up the remainder of its Donbas region but Kyiv refuses to surrender land that Moscow's forces have failed to capture in more than four years of war.

-Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Felix Light,Editing by Mark Trevelyan/Reuters