The Kremlin yesterday assessed that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on ending the conflict are currently “on pause,” since a date for the next round of talks has not yet been set.
“There are channels of communication; they are well established. Our negotiators have the possibility to communicate through those channels, but for now we can rather speak of a pause,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during a regular press briefing.
Earlier negotiations, held in Istanbul at the beginning of the year, did not result in concrete progress, except for reaching an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war.
United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump, who assigned himself the role of mediator between Moscow and Kyiv, is striving at all costs to achieve a rapid end to the Russian attack on Ukraine, which began in 2022.
However, the positions of the two sides still appear irreconcilable.
Russia demands the demilitarization and capitulation of Ukraine, as well as the handover of Ukrainian regions whose annexation it has already proclaimed, even though it does not fully control those territories.
Ukraine, on the other hand, considers those conditions unacceptable and seeks security guarantees from its allies, convinced that Russia could attack again even in the case of a peace agreement being reached.
