Ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia moving at a snail's pace as US mediation stalls
The pace of ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine is moving slowly.
Russia demands that Ukraine abandons Western military support.
Germany pledged to support Ukraine.
The pace of talks to resolve the war in Ukraine depends on Kyiv's position, the effectiveness of US mediation, and the situation on the ground, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in remarks televised on Sunday.
Five months into US President Donald Trump's term, there is no clear end to the war Russia launched in February 2022 against its smaller neighbour, despite his 2024 campaign vow to end it in one day.
Trump, who has pushed both sides toward ceasefire talks since his January inauguration, said on Friday he thinks 'something will happen' about a settlement of the war.
'A lot depends, naturally, on the position of the Kyiv regime,' Peskov told Belarus 1 TV, the main state television channel in Russia's neighbour.
'It depends on how effectively Washington's mediating efforts continue,' he said, adding that the situation on the ground was another factor that could not be ignored.
Peskov did not elaborate on what Moscow expects from Washington or Kyiv.
Moscow has been demanding that Ukraine cede more land and abandon Western military support, conditions Kyiv calls unacceptable.
While no date has been set for the next round of talks, Peskov said Russia hoped dates would become clear 'in the near future'.
After a gap of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on 16 May and 2 June that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of their dead soldiers.
They have made no progress toward a ceasefire, however.
Their blueprints for a peace deal shared at the 2 June talks were 'absolutely contradictory memorandums', Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
Russia, which already controls about a fifth of Ukraine, continues to advance gradually, gaining ground in recent weeks in Ukraine's southeastern regions of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, and ramping up air attacks nationwide.
Turkey, which hosted the previous round of talks, is ready to host them again, it said on Friday.
Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images
Reuters reported that German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrived in Kyiv to discuss support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
'We will continue to stand firmly by Ukraine's side so that it can continue to defend itself successfully - with modern air defence and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic aid,' Wadephul said in a statement.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called for help from Washington and Western allies to bolster Ukraine's air defences after a Russian attack on Sunday that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles.
Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest military backer after the US, whose commitment to Kyiv has been called into question, putting pressure on Europe to step up.
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