'Ukraine halted peace talks with Moscow on orders from its US handlers,' says Russia

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova on Wednesday, 15 June, said that the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been halted by Kyiv on orders "given by their American handlers." Speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Zakharova said that Ukraine needs to speak about "what they did with talks," TASS reported.

She claimed the talks with Russia were halted by Ukraine on the orders from the US handlers and also stressed that Moscow was willing to continue the talks. 

Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine had called for talks with Russia and they had agreed to hold the dialogue. however, the Ukrainian government put forth various conditions to hold peace talks with Russia. She said that Ukraine described the place of talks with Russia as "wrong" and they had called for a change in the country where the meeting was to be held, as per the TASS report. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Ukraine had even said that the "makeup of the delegation isn't right." She emphasized that Ukraine has not given any response to Russia's reaction to its proposals to resolve the situation.

Notably, the talks between Russia and Ukraine continue to remain stalled. Vladimir Medinsky, the aide to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who headed the Russian delegation at the peace talks, blamed Ukraine for suspending the negotiations.

Vladimir Medinsky blames Ukraine for stalling peace talks 

Notably, Russia and Ukraine held their last face-to-face peace talks in Turkey on March 29. Earlier on May 28, Mykhaylo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and one of the representatives of Ukraine in the peace talks criticised Russia for their statement regarding negotiations. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Podolyak said that Russia has been lying when it accuses Ukraine of refusing to negotiate with Moscow. He asserted that Ukraine is willing to hold talks if Russia "renounces hypocrisy." Podolyak further stated that Ukraine's peace talks continue to be conducted by "another delegation on the frontline" until Russia leaves southern Ukraine and withdraws its troops. Meanwhile, the war between Russia and Ukraine which started on February 24 continues for more than 110 days. The hostilities between Russia and Ukraine has led to death and destruction in war-torn nation. 

 Image: AP