Russia ready to reach deal, details still under discussion: Lavrov

WASHINGTON — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia is "ready" to reach an agreement with Ukraine, according to an interview with CBS News posted online on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump "mentions a deal and we are ready to reach a deal, but there are still some specific elements of this deal which need to be fine-tuned," Lavrov said in the interview.

"There are several signs that we are moving in the right direction," he added.

The US president said Washington was also pressuring Kyiv to reach a deal. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also at the White House, said further discussions were planned for the weekend, and the US wants to see both Ukraine and Russia step up to finalize a deal.

Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin, Interfax news agency said on Friday.

When asked about a new wave of strikes on Ukraine which left at least 12 dead and dozens more injured in Kyiv, Lavrov said: "We only target military goals or civilian sites used by the military."

"If this was a target used by the Ukrainian military, (then) the Ministry of Defense, the commanders in the field have the right to attack them," he continued.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 66 ballistic and cruise missiles, four plane-launched air-to-surface missiles and 145 Shahed and decoy drones at Kyiv and four other regions of Ukraine. Around 90 people were also wounded.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump issued a rare rebuke of the Kremlin via social media: "I am not happy with the Russian strikes," Trump wrote. "Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cut short a visit to South Africa to urgently return to Kyiv after Thursday's Russian deadly strike on the capital.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the potential deployment of NATO forces to Ukraine is unacceptable.

Such a move would pose a "critical danger" to all European and global security, Peskov said.

Peskov's comments on Thursday came after Ukrainian officials on Wednesday held talks with delegations from the United States, Britain, France and Germany, in London.

In early March, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a plan to form a "coalition of the willing" to bolster support for Ukraine.

In another development, on Friday, a senior Russian military officer was killed by a car bomb, Russia's top criminal investigation agency said.

The Investigative Committee said that Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow.

The committee didn't mention possible suspects.

AGENCIES—XINHUA