The Kremlin confirms that negotiations with Kyiv are stalled

The Kremlin announced on Friday that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict were stalled, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that his Russian counterpart’s goal was to “occupy all Ukraine”.

For his part, US President Donald Trump, who has been working for months to quickly end the most dangerous conflict in Europe since World War II, warned that his patience with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is rapidly running out.

Meanwhile, Russia and its ally Belarus began joint military exercises on Friday, raising concerns among their NATO neighbors’ days after an unprecedented incursion by Russian drones into Polish airspace.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed during the three-and-a-half-year war, which has displaced millions and devastated much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Talks held in Istanbul earlier this year failed to achieve any real progress, except for an agreement on a prisoner exchange.

The two sides’ positions remain very far apart regarding the terms for ending the war, a ceasefire, or holding a meeting between the two countries’ presidents.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, “Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through channels… But at the moment, it’s probably more accurate to speak of a stalemate in the negotiations”.

In statements to journalists, Peskov warned against excessive optimism that the negotiation process would lead to immediate results.

On Friday, Zelensky warned that his Russian counterpart still wants to occupy all of Ukraine.

“Putin’s goal is to occupy all Ukraine,” Zelensky told a conference in Kyiv.

“No matter what he tells anyone, it’s clear that he has activated the war machine to such an extent that he simply cannot stop unless he is forced to radically change his personal goals,” he added.

He urged his country’s Western allies to pressure China, which would in turn pressure Russia to end the war.

For his part, the US President hinted at the possibility of imposing sanctions on Russia without making any firm commitments in this regard.

Zelensky is requesting a meeting with his Russian counterpart to break the deadlock, a request the Kremlin has so far refused.

Russia, which denies targeting civilians in Ukraine, occupies about 20% of the country’s territory.

Moscow’s condition for ending the war is that Kyiv relinquish four regions it partially occupies (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, and that it abandon its arms purchases from Western powers and its ambition to join NATO.

Kyiv rejects Moscow’s conditions and demands the deployment of Western forces to protect it from any future attack, a proposal that Russia considers unacceptable.

The incursion of approximately twenty drones into Polish airspace on Tuesday night marked a new escalation and sparked strong reactions in Poland, with Western countries describing it as a provocation.

Russia denied targeting Poland and accused Warsaw of failing to provide evidence that the drones were Russian.

On Friday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the bloc would strengthen its defenses on its eastern front with contributions from several member states, including Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and others.

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, Poland and about 40 of its allies on Friday called on Moscow to avoid further provocations, ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting requested by Warsaw.

“Russia’s reckless actions constitute a destabilizing escalation that brings the entire region closer to conflict than at any time in recent years,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Posacki said, reading a declaration to reporters on behalf of some 40 countries, including members of the European Union, Ukraine, the United States, Japan, and Canada.

Amid these tensions, Moscow and Minsk launched their major military drills on Friday, dubbed Zapad-2025 (“West-2025”), referring to their holding in the western part of the Russia-Belarus alliance.

These drills will continue through Tuesday in Belarus and Russia, as well as in the Barents and Baltic Seas.

Part of them is being conducted in the Belarusian Grodno region, near Poland and Lithuania, according to Minsk.

A video released by the Ministry of Defense shows heavy military equipment, including armored vehicles, helicopters, and ships, participating in the drills.

Moscow and Minsk denied any offensive intent behind the drills, but Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, NATO members neighboring Belarus, imposed air traffic restrictions.

Poland also closed its border with Belarus and announced that approximately 40,000 troops are expected to be near the area during the drills.

However, NATO stressed that it doesn’t see any direct military threat from these drills.