Russia To Hold Peace Talks with Ukraine Next Week

Russia said on Friday, February 13th, that a new round of talks with the U.S. and Ukrainian officials seeking to broker an end to the four-year war would take place next week. Two previous rounds of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi have failed to lead to a breakthrough, with Moscow and Kyiv remaining far apart on the key issue of territory.

“There is an agreement that it will indeed take place next week. We will inform you about the venue and dates,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked about whether a new meeting had been planned.

Moscow has stuck to its demands for sweeping territorial and political concessions from Ukraine—rejected by Kyiv as tantamount to capitulation. Russia is pushing for Ukraine to pull out of the eastern Donetsk region—around one-fifth of which Kyiv’s forces still control.

Ukraine has rejected a unilateral pull-back and wants robust Western security guarantees to deter Russia from re-launching its offensive following any ceasefire.

However, President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that he had accepted a U.S. proposal to hold a round of talks in Miami next week.