MOSCOW: Russia pushed back Wednesday against the idea of European peacekeeping troops being deployed to Ukraine, and downplayed chances of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in another blow to the chances of a peace deal.
US President Donald Trump has recently met both Zelensky and Russia’s President Vladimir in his bid to end the conflict, which has been raging for over three and a half years.
But Russia has shown little sign it is willing to compromise.
Ukraine is pushing for Western-backed security guarantees as a part of any agreement to ensure Russia does not attack again, while Moscow is demanding Kyiv cedes more territory in its east.
When asked how the Kremlin would view any possible European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We view such discussions negatively.”
He said it was “exactly this movement of NATO military infrastructure … into Ukraine” that Russia sees as one of the “root causes” behind its move to launch the all-out offensive in February 2022.
Tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict, which has devastated swathes of the country and forced millions to flee their homes.
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Security guarantees for Ukraine are “one of the most important topics” in talks over a settlement, Peskov said, adding Moscow would not discuss specifics of what they could look like publicly.
Zelensky had earlier accused Russia – which has rejected several calls for an immediate ceasefire – of not being serious about seeking peace.
“The Russians are currently sending negative signals regarding meetings and further developments. Strikes on our cities and villages continue,” he said in a post on social media.
Kyiv is holding talks with its key backers in a bid to firm up what any security guarantees could look like.
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Zelensky also sees a meeting with Putin as crucial to breaking the deadlock over a possible deal.
But the Kremlin – which has repeatedly tried to cast doubt on Zelensky’s legitimacy – further pushed back against the idea a summit was likely to take place soon.
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“Any high-level or top-level contact must be well-prepared in order to be effective,” Peskov told reporters, including AFP, in a briefing call.
He also said the heads of Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams were “in touch” but no date had been set for future talks.
Three rounds of negotiations between the sides in Istanbul have failed to yield anything more than prisoner exchanges.
Moscow’s negotiators demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of four regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia – that Russia claims to have annexed but does not fully control as a precondition to a peace deal.
Kyiv has rejected that idea as a non-starter.
Russia is meanwhile pressing on across the front line.
Strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday killed three people and left more than 100,000 households without power, Kyiv said.
“Russians attacked energy and gas transport infrastructure facilities in six regions,” the Ukrainian energy ministry said in a statement.
It called the attack a “deliberate policy of destroying Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure on the eve of the heating season,” hampering the heating supply system ahead of colder autumn days.
A farm in the southern Kherson region was damaged as a result of heavy shelling, killing two employees there, and an 81-year-old woman died in an overnight attack on the regional capital, local officials said.
And more than 100,000 houses were cut-off from electricity in the Poltava, Sumy and Chernigiv regions, Zelensky said.
Russia, which now occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine, has advanced in recent months in a grinding campaign against Kyiv’s smaller, outgunned army.
Moscow also claimed Wednesday to have captured another settlement in the Donetsk region, near the embattled city of Pokrovsk, completely destroyed by the Russian army’s months-long attempts to seize it.
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