Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow plays down hopes for 'breakthrough' in peace talks
Russia on Wednesday played down hopes of a breakthrough in peace with Ukraine, a day after delegations from both sides held talks over the ongoing invasion. Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had "not noticed anything too promising or that looked like a breakthrough" during the Istanbul talks. Welcoming the proposal of listing out demands by Ukraine, Peskov said, "Moscow considered it "positive" that Kyiv had started outlining its demands in writing." "There is still a lot of work remains before a deal is possible," he added.
After several rounds of failed negotiations, the peace talks made little progress on Tuesday after Russia promised it would scale back its military operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv. However, on Wednesday, the shelling by Russian forces continued in the north and west of Kyiv, despite Russia’s declaration.
After Tuesday's talks, Moscow also held out the prospect of direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, something Kyiv has long sought.
In the proposal submitted by Ukraine, Kyiv hinted at dropping NATO aspirations in exchange for legally binding security guarantees from western countries. "We want an international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will act in a similar way to NATO's article number five -- and even more firmly," said David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiator, on Tuesday after Istanbul talks.
With this, Ukraine also offered to accept neutral status "if the security guarantees work." Ukraine also promised Russia that it "won't host on its territory any foreign military base", another Ukrainian negotiator at the talks, Oleksandr Chaly said.
{{/usCountry}}With this, Ukraine also offered to accept neutral status "if the security guarantees work." Ukraine also promised Russia that it "won't host on its territory any foreign military base", another Ukrainian negotiator at the talks, Oleksandr Chaly said.
{{/usCountry}}Kyiv has also proposed to sidestep the question of Crimea, which Russia invaded and then annexed in 2014, and the breakaway territories in the eastern Donbas region.
(With agency inputs)