The peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ended this year without significant progress, leading to their suspension, the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister, Serhii Kyslytsya, told The Times on Tuesday.
According to him, Kiev has been actively working since the summer of 2025 to convince Ukraine’s international partners to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a personal meeting with President Volodimir Zelenski. “Under a dictatorship, it is impossible to have fruitful discussions with the people who represent the dictator. They have a very strict mandate and must defend the position they were instructed to defend,” Kyslytsya said, referring to the negotiation process between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul.
“Turkish representatives have repeatedly requested the resumption of these (negotiations). The Russian team is ready for this; the ball is in Ukraine’s court,” Alexei Polishchuk, a director at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told TASS on Wednesday.