Ukraine halts peace talks with Russia, deputy FM explains reason

With this year's peace talks ending with little progress made, they have now been abandoned, Kyslytsya emphasized.

The deputy foreign minister stated that since the summer, the primary focus has been on securing more action from Ukraine's international partners to encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in person.

It is also noted that although Kyslytsya was open to progress on the path toward peace, he does not appear surprised that the talks with the Russian delegation produced limited results.

"It's important to understand that in a dictatorship, you can't have creative discussions with negotiation teams representing the dictator. They come with a very rigid mandate, and they have to defend whatever positions they were given. On top of that, you had people controlling each other, and then they report on each other, how tough they were in presenting their position," he said.

He also emphasized that "in the Russian system, you have to deal directly with the dictator."

Talks between Ukraine and Russia

Ukraine and Russia held three rounds of negotiations in Istanbul in May, June, and July 2025.

During the meetings, the Ukrainian delegation confirmed its readiness for an immediate ceasefire and clearly outlined key demands: cessation of hostilities, a full silence regime along the entire front line, and an end to strikes on civilian infrastructure.

However, Moscow refused to agree to a truce.

Moreover, after the second round of talks, Russia handed Ukraine a so-called memorandum, which included a list of ultimatum demands.

It is known that the main practical result of the negotiations was an agreement on prisoner exchanges.

Recently, however, reports have emerged that Türkiye is ready to host a new round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow.