World

Putin Says Resumption of Peace Talks Unlikely After Drone Attacks on Moscow

By Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin said an immediate resumption of peace talks with Ukraine is unlikely, citing drone attacks on Moscow during last month’s parliamentary elections. In a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, Putin said Moscow was ready to resume negotiations with Kyiv after the elections, but the drone attacks on the capital made the resumption of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. unlikely. Kremlin foreign‑policy aide Yuri Ushakov explained that the large‑scale drone attack on Moscow, other cities and polling stations on the most important day of the elections, and the targeting of people involved in organising the elections, had effectively interrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process. He added that the president would now assess when these negotiations could resume.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Russia’s war in Ukraine is at a dangerous stalemate and that the United States will keep working toward a deal to end the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week that the country was ready to hold trilateral talks with the United States and Russia this month.

Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump announced after the call with Putin that Russia had agreed to deliver more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to American and global markets. The deal was criticised by U.S. lawmakers, Zelenskyy and European allies. Zelenskyy called the agreement a "gift to Putin" and said the money would go toward the war against people, against Ukraine, and against all of us, adding that his team was being used as a smokescreen.

In response to the U.S.–Russia diesel deal, a UK government spokesperson said the United Kingdom would continue to "maintain pressure on Russia through the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed by the UK."