“There have been and are no direct or indirect negotiations between Russia and the Kiev regime on the security of civilian critical infrastructure,” said the State Department spokeswoman. The US newspaper had previously reported that the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region had thwarted plans for such secret talks.
“Nobody has ruined anything because there was nothing that could have been thwarted,” Maria Zakharova continued. According to the Washington Post report, these talks were planned in Qatar. The aim was to stop the attacks on the energy infrastructure at least. Such plans for talks were never made public.
The only contacts that exist are between intermediaries at the humanitarian level – especially in the exchange of prisoners, Zakharova explained. Russia had also handed over children sought by Ukrainians to their relatives through intermediaries. Zakharova explained that Kyiv itself withdrew from the negotiations with Moscow in the spring of 2022 and then legally banned them by decree.
Ukraine wants to recapture territories
Before the ground offensive in the Kursk region that began on August 6, Ukraine had repeatedly declared its willingness to negotiate peace with Russia. After Ukrainian troops invaded the Kursk region, Russia described this as a diversionary tactic. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin then fundamentally questioned the possibility of negotiations.
In June, Putin himself made proposals for resolving the conflict. According to these, Ukraine should give up four areas that Russia had annexed but does not yet fully control. Ukraine, on the other hand, wants to recapture the Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and therefore rejects their cession.
Moscow also demanded that Kiev renounce NATO membership and respect the rights of the Russian-speaking minority in the country. In addition, the West must lift all sanctions against Russia, it said in Moscow.