Kremlin suspends trilateral peace talks until AFU withdraws from Donbas

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov stated that continuing trilateral negotiations in the U.S.-Ukraine-Russia format is pointless until Kyiv withdraws its troops from the part of Donbas under its control.

According to Ukrinform, The Moscow Times stated this in an article.

"Everyone understands — including, I would say, the Ukrainian negotiators — that right now Kyiv only needs to take one serious step, after which, first, military actions will be suspended, and second, prospects will open for serious discussions about the future long-term settlement," Ushakov said.

It is noted that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously stated that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from Donbas in order for negotiations to continue.

According to Ushakov, after several rounds of trilateral talks in Geneva, no further contacts regarding Ukraine in this format were held. He believes that Washington is occupied with another "rather serious and important problem."

Read also: Zelensky sets tasks for Umerov ahead of U.S. talks

After the February meetings in Geneva, Kremlin representatives claimed that Moscow was ready to withdraw from the negotiation process if its demands were not met. By such demands, Russian officials meant territorial concessions from Kyiv, since practically all other issues had allegedly already been resolved.

Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Kovalenko, stated that Russia had effectively confirmed its unwillingness to end the war because Ukraine refuses to leave its own territories.

"Russia officially admitted through Ushakov's statements that it does not plan to end the war because Ukraine refuses to leave its own land (Russia demanded that Ukraine withdraw from Donbas)," Kovalenko said.

According to him, Russia thereby confirmed that "they never needed peace, only an attempt to gain a foothold for further offensive actions without fighting," while Ukraine "clearly stated that it would not leave its own land."

"It seems the Putin regime cannot imagine its existence without war at all," Kovalenko added.

As Ukrinform reported, today Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council and head of the Ukrainian negotiating group Rustem Umerov arrived in the United States.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the continuation of negotiations with representatives of the U.S. president concerning humanitarian issues, the diplomatic process with Russia, and security agreements to strengthen Ukraine's defense.