Ukraine-Russia talks paused amid Iran war: report
According to the news of Izvestia newspaper, based on Russian officials, peace talks between the USA, Russia and Ukraine to end the Ukrainian war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, have stalled in the middle of the Iran war.
US President Donald Trump, who said last year he wanted to be remembered as a peacemaker, vowed to end the Ukraine war but has since said efforts to resolve the conflict had been one of his biggest disappointments.
The US and Israeli attack on Iran diverted US attention from Ukraine and triggered a rise in oil and gas prices, for which Russia is a major global producer and exporter.
Izvestia, which represented official state views during the Soviet period and is now under European Union sanctions, said in its front-page story that the Kremlin had confirmed a pause in talks on Ukraine and that the Iran war could push Kiev to compromise.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper that Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev would continue to work on investment and economic cooperation, but “the tripartite group is on pause.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine, triggering the biggest conflict between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
Russia and Ukraine held talks in Türkiye last year, and this year they held several more sessions in Abu Dhabi and Geneva under the mediation of the United States. But they are far apart on Russia’s demand that Ukraine cede control of the entire eastern Donetsk region.
Ukrainian and European leaders say Russia cannot be allowed to achieve its goals after what they portray as an imperial-style land grab. European powers say that if Russia wins, it will one day attack NATO.
Moscow says such claims are ridiculous and that it does not intend to attack a NATO member.
“Over the past year, Russia has maintained the upper hand in its war against Ukraine,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday. he said.
“US-led negotiations between Moscow and Kiev continue. Until such an agreement is reached, Moscow will most likely continue to wage a war of attrition in order to weaken Kiev’s ability and will to resist.”
President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly said he is open to discussing peace, sees the war as a turning point in relations with the West and says it humiliated Russia by expanding NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and encroaching on what Moscow sees as its sphere of influence.
Russia has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from parts of the Donbas region still under its control. Russian figures show Ukraine controls just under 10 percent of the Donbas region.
Putin said Russia’s conditions for ending the war in 2024 are for Ukraine to formally give up its desire to join NATO and for Russia to withdraw completely from four regions it claims as its own territory.
Kiev says it will not give up territory that Moscow forces have not captured in nearly four years of war.
