Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia is ready to restart negotiations with Ukraine, though Moscow gave no sign it would soften its demand for Kyiv to give up the remaining Ukrainian-held Donbas territory.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow is prepared to resume peace negotiations with Ukraine from the point where earlier talks ended, while offering no indication that Russia is changing one of its central demands.
“We are ready to talk with Kyiv, as we have always been,” Lavrov told reporters.
Lavrov was referring to negotiations held in Istanbul shortly after Russia’s war in Ukraine began in 2022, as well as talks that resumed in 2025.
His comments came after the most recent U.S.-mediated peace talks were held in February, before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.
Despite saying Russia is open to renewed talks, Lavrov did not signal any retreat from Moscow’s demand that Ukraine surrender the remaining portion of the Donbas region that Kyiv has continued to defend against Russian forces.
Ukraine has rejected that demand.
The remarks leave the status of any potential renewed negotiations uncertain. Moscow says it is ready to return to the table, but the continued dispute over Donbas remains a major barrier to progress.
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