Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov gave more details Friday about a proposal floated earlier in the day for sending representatives to the Belarusian capital of Minsk to talk with Kyiv, claiming the Ukrainian side had countered with a proposal to meet in Warsaw and then dropped contact. 

"Putin immediately phoned President (Alexander) Lukashenko and agreed that the Belarusian side and the president would do everything to best organize the arrival of delegations and ensure their safety — this element is also important now — and the conditions for conducting these negotiations directly," Peskov said in a phone call with reporters.

Peskov added: "After a short pause, the Ukrainians said that the Ukrainians wanted to go to Warsaw. And after that they took a pause and left the connection." 

Prior to Peskov's comments, Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych told CNN Friday that the Ukrainian government is “considering the proposal.” 

The Kremlin spokesperson claimed that the pause was accompanied by the deployment of multiple launch rocket systems in residential areas, including in Kyiv by "nationalist elements," something Peskov said the Kremlin considered "extremely dangerous."

More context: Peskov's statement echoed a claim made earlier in the day by the Russian military, which said — without evidence — US military and intelligence advisers have instructed Ukrainian military leaders to place rocket artillery systems in residential areas to provoke return fire on local residents. 

The US has observed at least 200 total missile launches since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters Friday, adding that “some of these missiles we have assessed have impacted civilian residential areas.”