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“What happens next does not depend on us,” the Russian official claims.
Russian officials have poured cold water on expectations of an early diplomatic breakthrough, as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that Moscow has no immediate plans to restart US-backed peace talks to end the war.
“There are currently no plans to hold contacts in this format. What happens next does not depend on us,” he said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
While blaming Ukraine for pausing trilateral meetings, Ryabkov noted that Moscow stays open to dialogue.
His comments follow grim assessments from Washington. Speaking earlier on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the conflict had hit a strategic stalemate with no immediate diplomatic exit in sight.
Rubio warned that the deadlock risks an “escalation of the conflict,” which “could ultimately spill over into other countries and escalate into a larger confrontation.”
Still, he stressed that Washington remains eager to help deliver a deal.
Fresh hurdles emerge
The sudden pause follows weeks of shifting signals. On September 25, Vladimir Putin claimed that peaceful proposals were still “on the table,” though he warned that a massive drone attack before Russian parliamentary elections required a response.
The Kremlin had seemed hopeful about autumn discussions. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, noted that Moscow “is counting on a trilateral meeting” with US participation in October, a timeline also cited by the head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) Kirill Budanov.
Then fresh obstacles hit the process. After US President Donald Trump signed new “hellish sanctions” targeting Russia, Peskov warned that the measure “complicates efforts” toward a settlement and added that “there are no preconditions for entering a peaceful negotiating track.”
Earlier diplomatic rounds had shown promise. Representatives met twice in Abu Dhabi and once in Geneva during January and February, with host nations offering to host further talks.
Hard lines drawn
Washington tried to jumpstart momentum late in the summer. Trump sent envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv in early September to press for movement.
Yet those envoys made little headway. According to the Financial Times, Putin insists Ukraine must hand over the Donbas, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky firmly rejects giving up territory.
Meanwhile, battlefield pressure continues to mount. Bloomberg reported that Putin shows no sign of softening his stance, opting to intensify strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid and heating supply to force a surrender.
