KYIV/MOSCOW — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the fresh talks with US mediators aimed at resolving the four-year conflict as "positive".

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stalled in recent months.

On Wednesday, Zelensky held talks remotely with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, and US Senator Lindsey Graham as part of ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also joined the call, amid ongoing tensions between Washington and some of its partners in the military alliance.

In his nightly video address after the call, Zelensky thanked the US for its efforts to bring peace and said the Ukrainian and US teams had agreed to strengthen a document outlining US security guarantees for any future peace deal.

"This is precisely what could pave the way for a reliable end to the war," Zelensky said.

In recent weeks, Zelensky has said the US was pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to bring a quick end to the conflict, which has fallen well below Iran in Washington's priorities since the US and Israel launched attacks on Tehran in late February.

Talks with Russia are deadlocked over the vital question of land, with Ukraine refusing to cede to Russian demands that it relinquish the remaining parts of the eastern, industrialized region of Donbas that Russia has been unable to conquer.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Zelensky should withdraw his forces from the Donbas region.

"As we have stated, he must take responsibility and make this difficult decision. Doing so could save a great many lives," Peskov said. "Most importantly, it would bring an end to the active phase of this conflict."

However, the pause in the trilateral talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine is unrelated to the issue of Ukrainian armed forces in Donbas, Peskov added.

Ukraine sees ceasing hostilities at the current front lines as a compromise and rejects Russia's demands to pull back from the land it still controls in the Donetsk region, part of Donbas.

Zelensky has repeatedly called for a summit with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the territorial issue could only be discussed at the leaders' level.

Zelensky said he spoke to US negotiators about his offer of an Easter ceasefire to the Russian side. Easter, according to the Orthodox Christian calendar, the dominant faith in Ukraine and Russia, falls on April 12 this year.

Russia's foreign ministry on Wednesday publicly rejected the proposal as a "PR stunt".

Zelensky said Russian forces fired more than 700 drones on Wednesday, when parts of western and central Ukraine were targeted in a rare daytime attack.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian forces have taken full control of the Lugansk region, part of Donbas, adding that settlements including Verkhnyaya Pisarevka in the Kharkiv region and Boykovo in the Zaporizhzhia region have also been brought under full control.

Agencies - Xinhua