Moscow and Kiev remain very far apart on the delicate territorial issue
Russia announced a new round of negotiations with representatives of Ukraine and the United States next week, to find a solution to the conflict, which It will soon be four years old.
“There is an agreement for this to happen next week. We will inform the place and dates,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov told several media outlets, including AFP.
Both countries have already participated in two rounds of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, with mediation from the United States, but they did not achieve a decisive advance, as Moscow and Kiev remain very far apart on the delicate territorial issue.
During the negotiations, the Russia remains firm in its demands for concessions, that to Ukraine rejects it as it considers them equivalent to a surrender.
A Russia is pushing for Ukraine to withdraw from the part it controls in the eastern Donetsk region, around 17% of the area.
Ukraine rejects a unilateral withdrawal and seeks strong Western security guarantees for dissuade Russia from resuming the offensive after any ceasefire.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said earlier this week that he had accepted a proposal from the United States for a round of talks in Miami next week.
Russia occupies almost 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, and areas that Moscow-backed separatists had seized before 2022.
*AFP
