Russia says Ukraine will return to peace talks from a 'much worse position’ after suspension

ISTANBUL

Ukraine will “sooner or later” have to return to negotiations with Moscow and from a “much worse position,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, a day after Ukraine announced suspending peace talks to end the war that has continued since 2022.

Peskov, responding to comments from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, said the situation for Kyiv is “deteriorating day by day,” asserting that Ukraine would eventually be compelled to reengage in dialogue with Russia.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, in remarks published on Wednesday, told The Times newspaper that Kyiv has formally halted the peace talks, citing a lack of meaningful progress during the rounds held earlier this year in Istanbul.

“Since the peace talks ended this year without significant progress, they have been suspended,” Kyslytsya said, adding that Ukraine has asked allies to help secure a direct meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow had made “specific proposals” in the negotiations, particularly on prisoner exchanges, which remain unfulfilled.

“I confirm, no one was going to have ‘creative discussions’ with them. Specific proposals were made, in particular on prisoner exchanges,” she said on Wednesday, alleging that Kyiv fulfilled “less than 30%” of commitments related to a planned swap of 1,200 people.

Zakharova said Kyslytsya’s announcement reflected a “lack of desire for peace.”

The three rounds of renewed talks held in Istanbul this year focused on prisoner and civilian exchanges, and both sides also exchanged memorandums outlining their positions on ending the war.

Russia has called for finding a permanent solution to end the conflict, as opposed to the West and Ukraine, which have called for freezing the conflict on the current line of contact and then holding negotiations.