Russia Calls Kyiv’s Negotiating Position ‘Delusional’, Yet Demands Ukrainian Surrender For Peace

Despite months of talks, both Russia and Ukraine appear to have barely shifted from their initial negotiation positions, with Moscow demanding huge concessions from Kyiv while calling their opponents “delusional” for not taking up the offer.

The second attempt at face-to-face Russia-Ukraine talks on Monday ended much the same as the first, three weeks before, which concluded with little progress towards peace, but a prisoner-swap agreement was reached.

The lead-up to this week’s talks had been dominated by speculation over what Russia’s demands would be, given that they had refused to publish them ahead of time, as Ukraine had done with theirs. Yet now they are out in the open, it remains clear that peace talks appear to be going nowhere fast, and the two sides are coming to the table with asymmetric ideas of how to achieve a ceasefire and what that would look like.

As expressed by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, Ukraine continues to “insist” on an “unconditional and lasting ceasefire.” Kyiv rationalises that it would be impossible to hold peace talks without a ceasefire, as negotiators could not talk in good faith if the killing continues beyond the room.

Russia rejects this position, and as revealed in recent hours, has presented a “memorandum” demanding a war outcome tantamount to near-total defeat to Ukraine in return for ending the fighting. Per the Kremlin’s own digest of this document, to get a cessation of hostility, Kyiv would have to cross several of its stated red lines, including withdrawing its military from Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — areas that the Russians partially occupy — before later recognising them and Crimea as rightful Russian territory.

Also on Russia’s wish-list is enforced military and political neutrality in perpetuity, a ban on all foreign armed forces from its territory, a total ban on nuclear weapons in Ukraine, limits on the future size of the Ukrainian armed forces, and Kyiv recognising Russian as an official language.

Russia wouldn’t even agree to starting a ceasefire until Ukraine starts withdrawing its military from its own territory in the south-east, Moscow said.

While these demands may seem far-fetched, Russia nevertheless decried Ukraine’s negotiation positions as “delusional”. Combative former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now a top figure in Russia’s defence state, said of Monday’s negotiations: “The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else’s delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of the neo-Nazi regime”.

Both Turkey and the United States reiterated on Monday that Russia’s President Putin, Ukraine’s President Zelensky, and President Donald Trump should meet in person to break the deadlock and move towards peace. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that President Trump, who has previously called such a meeting essential for peace, still supports the idea.

She said: “The president has said he’s open to it if it comes to that, but he wants both of these leaders and both sides to come to the table together.”

The Kremlin poured cold water on this notion, however, with President Putin’s personal spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying on Tuesday: “Frankly speaking, [it is] unlikely in the near future.” Peskov said Putin would only be interested in personal involvement once the technical details are agreed between the parties, throwing the notion of a resolution into something of a Catch-22 situation.

Meanwhile, both sides continue major strikes against each other and their infrastructure. Ukraine launched raids against energy infrastructure in Russian-occupied Ukraine overnight, plunging “hundreds of thousands” into darkness. President Zelensky, meanwhile, said Russia’s continued strikes on Ukrainian cities demonstrate he has no real interest in peace.

Speaking of an attack on the city of Sumy overnight, which killed three civilians, Zelensky said, “that alone says everything one needs to know about Russia’s so-called ‘desire’ to end this war,” and called on the West to bring “decisive actions” and “global pressure” against Russia to force them into a ceasefire.