The Kremlin said on Monday that Moscow was open to holding a new round of peace talks with Ukraine, adding, however, that the positions of the two sides remain “opposed,” requiring hard diplomatic work.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russia has received a draft memorandum from Kyiv, which will be discussed alongside Moscow’s own proposal. “There will be an exchange of views on these two drafts, which so far are completely at odds with each other,” Peskov told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Kyiv had proposed a new round of negotiations this week and called for speeding up talks on a possible ceasefire. Peskov said Moscow would announce the date of the talks once it has been agreed.
Peskov also confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China to attend events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Ukraine and Russia have held two rounds of talks in Istanbul, on May 16 and June 2, which resulted in the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the repatriation of the remains of soldiers killed in the conflict, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) reported on Monday.
However, the two sides have made no progress toward a ceasefire or an agreement to end the war, now approaching three and a half years.
