Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are on a “deep pause” as Russian troops press their offensive in eastern Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“We’re pressing forward with the special military operation and our troops are making gains on the frontlines,” Peskov told reporters.
“As for peace talks, that topic is currently on a deep pause,” he added.
Peskov’s comments mark a departure from previous remarks this summer in which he confirmed that Russia was maintaining dialogue with U.S. negotiators.
Earlier on Friday, The New York Times reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow this week with the aim of pushing the Kremlin to pursue a peace deal with Ukraine.
Peskov’s public dismissal of diplomacy also comes on the back of a senior Vatican diplomatic envoy meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week to call for peace in Ukraine.
In Friday’s comments, Peskov said the Russian military was “intentionally destroying the Kyiv regime’s military and military-adjacent infrastructure.”
“Our forces know what they’re doing and how to do it,” he said, one day after the chief of Russia’s General Staff claimed Russian troops were inching closer to the heavily fortified Donetsk region city of Slovyansk.
President Vladimir Putin continues to demand that Ukraine cede full control of the Donetsk region as a prerequisite for any ceasefire agreement — a condition Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.
“The Ukrainian side knows our demands full well. They just don’t want to discuss them peacefully,” Peskov said.