Ukraine was not in the mood for peace talks with Russia from the very beginning, said Rodion Miroshnik, a special representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in an interview with the newspaper "Izvestia".
The diplomat believes that Ukraine began to declare its desire for peace under certain pressure. He noted that as soon as the opportunity for a settlement appeared, Kiev "switched to peace rhetoric, offering absurd things". In addition, the diplomat stressed that during this time the Ukrainian side has "initiated terrorist attacks", intensified shelling, and the number of civilian casualties has increased.
"That is, in practice, Ukraine had no plans for a settlement", Miroshnik added.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia continues to talk about its readiness for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, "but the Europeans and the Kiev regime demonstrate absolute unwillingness to do anything about it".
Since the beginning of the year, Russia and Ukraine have held a series of meetings in Istanbul: on May 16, June 2, and July 23. After the last meeting, the countries agreed to continue the indefinite medical exchange of seriously wounded and sick people. Moscow expressed its readiness to hand over to Kiev an additional 3,000 bodies of fallen soldiers from the Ukrainian armed forces and proposed an exchange of at least 1,200 prisoners from each side.