Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘artificially slowing down’ conflict resolution

ISTANBUL

Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of “artificially slowing down” efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict, saying Kyiv lacks “flexibility and readiness” to engage in serious negotiations.

“There is no flexibility in the Ukrainian position and no readiness of the Kyiv administration to begin serious discussions. Indeed, we said that there is a pause. This pause is evident,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

He criticized Ukrainian calls for an immediate meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling them “emotional” and “absolutely useless” without prior expert-level preparation.

“Any contacts at the highest level must be well prepared so that such a dialogue results in developments agreed upon in advance,” he said, stressing that Moscow remains interested in a political and diplomatic settlement.

Peskov claimed that “the Europeans are interfering” and ignoring what he called the root causes of the crisis, hindering peace efforts.

He also rejected remarks by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski that NATO is not at war with Russia.

“NATO is at war with Russia. This is obvious and does not require any additional evidence,” Peskov said, alleging that the military alliance provides both “indirect and direct support” to Kyiv.

Ukraine maintains that meaningful talks cannot begin until a ceasefire, and has called for a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. It has also refused any territorial concessions and called for robust security guarantees.

Russia, on the other hand, maintains a leaders' summit must be thoroughly prepared, and has rejected the idea of troops from NATO countries in post-war Ukraine. It is said to have control over 20% of Ukraine, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, which were annexed in 2022.

Moscow has also asked to be included in any talks on Ukraine’s security guarantees.