Translated with AI
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which took place this year, have been suspended due to a lack of progress. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya announced this in an interview with The Times on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.
According to him, since the summer of 2025, Kyiv has been trying to persuade its international partners to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure a personal meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Under a dictatorship, it's impossible to conduct fruitful discussions with the negotiating teams representing the dictator. They have a very strict mandate, and they must defend the position they've been instructed to," Kyslytsya noted, referring to the meetings between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul.
The negotiations in Turkey were held in three stages—in May, June, and July 2025. Ukraine insisted on an unconditional ceasefire and an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure. The Russian delegation, led by presidential aide Volodymyr Medynsky, rejected the ceasefire and demanded Russian recognition of the annexed territories and a limitation on the size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Following the publication of Kyslitsa's interview, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the Kremlin was ready to resume negotiations in Turkey. "Turkish representatives have repeatedly called for them to resume. The Russian team is ready for this; the ball is in Ukraine's court," Alexei Polishchuk, head of the Second CIS Department, told the TASS news agency on Wednesday, November 11.
According to him, at previous meetings they managed to reach “important agreements in the humanitarian sphere” – on large-scale exchanges of prisoners of war, the repatriation of the bodies of the dead, and the return of civilians.
Polischuk also noted that Ukraine had not responded to Russia's proposal to create "three working groups of the Istanbul process." In response, Kyslytsya claimed that Moscow's initiative amounted to formal actions: the Russians proposed creating "WhatsApp groups" and similar channels, avoiding discussion of the substance of the issues. According to the Ukrainian diplomat, Moscow was thus attempting to demonstrate to the US the appearance of progress in negotiations and avoid new sanctions.
