As Ukraine and Russia met for US‑brokered talks in the UAE, the Kremlin warned the war would continue until Kyiv accepted Moscow’s terms.
As Ukraine and Russia met for US‑brokered talks in the UAE, the Kremlin on Wednesday warned the war would continue until Kyiv accepted Moscow’s terms.
“Until the Kyiv regime makes the appropriate decisions, the special military operation continues,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to AFP.
Since 2022 when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has stuck to maximalist demands that include the surrender of entire Donbas region, a slew of constitutional changes, cap on the country’s military, ban on military partnerships, and a buffer zone among other conditions.
Taken together, the acceptance of these demands would mean Ukraine surrendering in the war and giving up sovereignty.
The US-Ukraine-Russia trilateral meeting has begun in Abu Dhabi “to achieve a just and lasting peace”, Ukrainian delegation leader Rustem Umerov wrote on social media. The first round of meeting was held last month.
While Ukraine’s delegation is led by Security Council chief Umerov, the Russian delegation is led by military intelligence director Igor Kostyukov. In the first round of talks last month, the American delegation was led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The meeting is meeting place amid escalating Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he has “adjusted” the negotiating position in the wake of latest Russian attacks that again struck the country’s energy infrastructure.
“Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously. The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly,” said Zelenskyy.
In the latest overnight barrage, Russia attacked Ukraine with 71 missiles and 450 drones. The attack came even as President Donald Trump had said Putin had agreed for a weeklong truce. But Kremlin only maintained the truce till February 1 resumed attacks well before the one-week mark.
Even as Ukraine and Russia are holding talks, they are not understood to be close to an agreement. While Putin has stuck to his maximalist demands, Zelenskyy has maintained that meaningful security guarantees are a must for any deal to be signed. He has reportedly shown flexibility on the question of land but has balked at many of Putin’s terms —almost all of those have been endorsed by terms— that are vastly unpopular in Ukraine.
Last month, Zelenskyy had said that a US security guarantees proposal was “100 per cent ready” after talks between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia. Implying that Russia needed to make concessions as well, he said at the time that the Trump administration was trying to find a compromise but “all sides must be ready for compromise”.
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