‘Ukraine peace talks on pause, but negotiators remain in touch’: Russia amid Trump’s deal push

The Kremlin on Friday that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are currently on “pause,” as US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic efforts to resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict has made little headway.

Despite a flurry of high-level diplomacy — including a recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska — Trump’s push for a negotiated settlement has faltered, with Moscow continuing its military offensive and intensifying aerial strikes.

“Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through channels. But for now, it is probably more accurate to talk about a pause,” AFP quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying in a briefing call.

“You can’t wear rose-tinted glasses and expect that the negotiation process will yield immediate results,” he added.

President Vladimir Putin has effectively ruled out holding a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite Kyiv insisting that direct talks are essential to break the ongoing deadlock.

In the meantime, Russia has intensified its military campaign, launching its largest aerial assault to date last week. The strikes killed several civilians and set a government building ablaze in central Kyiv.

So far, three rounds of direct peace talks held in Istanbul have failed to produce significant breakthroughs, resulting only in large-scale prisoner exchanges.

Moscow continues to push a set of hardline demands, including the full surrender of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region — parts of which remain under Kyiv’s control.

Ukraine has firmly rejected any territorial concessions and is calling for the deployment of European peacekeeping troops on its soil — a proposal Moscow has outright rejected.

With inputs from agencies