The Kremlin does not allow a ceasefire in Ukraine. This is evidenced by the statement of the speaker of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov regarding the proposal of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky regarding a referendum on the issue of territories.
“If it is a question of creating a reason to demand a ceasefire, a respite, a pause on the front, it will not pass,” Peskov said in an interview with Channel One.
Putin’s spokesman added that “a temporary respite is another deception, another delay, brainwashing,” a long-term and guaranteed peace is needed.
President Zelensky stressed the previous day while talking to journalists that the issue of possible territorial solutions should be decided by the people of Ukraine “in the format of elections or in the format of a referendum”.
The Ukrainian president had earlier said that the negotiators discussing the US-brokered peace initiative maintain disagreements on territories. “There is a vision of the United States, Russia and Ukraine, and we do not have a common opinion on Donbass,” Zelensky said.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has been trying again to reach a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev. The week-long talks have produced a document that is more acceptable to Kiev, but there are several contentious issues, particularly regarding territory and security guarantees.
According to Zelensky, the US believes that a full ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia is possible only after the signing of a comprehensive framework agreement on peace, as the Americans believe that Russia will not agree to a ceasefire without such a document, although Kiev insists that there must be a ceasefire first.
It is unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to agree to a ceasefire agreement. After talks with Trump’s envoys in Moscow last week, the Kremlin said some of the proposals on the table were acceptable, but he rejected others.