On the earlier spherical of peace negotiations, Russia’s record of calls for to finish the struggle included Ukraine conceding important parts of its sovereign territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled a readiness to barter peace with Ukraine, however Moscow will prioritize its targets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned on July 20.
Talking on state tv on July 20, Peskov mentioned U.S. President Donald Trump’s generally “harsh” rhetoric has turn into normalized for a lot of the world but in addition highlighted that Trump has reiterated in feedback on Russia that his objective is placing a peace settlement.
“President Putin has repeatedly spoken of his want to deliver the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceable conclusion as quickly as potential. This can be a lengthy course of; it requires effort, and it isn’t simple,” Peskov instructed state tv reporter Pavel Zarubin.
“The principle factor for us is to attain our targets. Our targets are clear.”
Trump spoke to Putin on July 3 about the potential of a cease-fire with Ukraine.
“I didn’t make any progress with him in any respect,” Trump instructed reporters after the decision.
He mentioned that he was “not completely satisfied” concerning the standing of a possible cease-fire settlement.
Whereas the Pentagon initially acknowledged that it could pause some shipments of weapons to Ukraine whereas conducting a “functionality evaluate,” Trump finally reversed course.
He mentioned on July 14 that he was taking a harder place towards Russia and supplied a brand new spherical of navy support to Ukraine, together with Patriot missile protection methods.
Trump additionally mentioned he would impose one hundred pc “secondary tariffs” on Russia if Putin refused to comply with a cease-fire with Ukraine within the following 50 days. The levies successfully add one other layer of tariffs to any nations that purchase Russian oil and vitality exports, together with China and India.
On July 18, the European Union agreed to a different spherical of sanctions on Russia, which embody punitive measures aimed toward Moscow’s vitality sector.
On July 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a brand new spherical of peace talks with Russia following the 2 rounds held in Turkey earlier in 2025. The preliminary peace negotiations have yielded no progress thus far.
“Dialogue with the Russian facet on prisoner exchanges is ongoing—we’re persevering with to implement the agreements reached in the course of the earlier assembly in Istanbul,” Zelenskyy mentioned on July 19 on his official Telegram channel. “Our workforce is at present engaged on one other alternate.”
Ukrainian Protection Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the preliminary rounds of negotiations, has prolonged a suggestion to Russia for an additional assembly, in response to Zelenskyy, who signaled that he wish to meet straight with Putin.
“A gathering on the management stage is critical to really safe peace—a very lasting one. Ukraine is prepared for such a gathering,” he mentioned.
“The tempo of the negotiations should be stepped up. We should do the whole lot to attain a ceasefire. And the Russian facet should cease avoiding choices.”
Through the earlier spherical of talks in June, Moscow insisted on a listing of hardline calls for to finish the struggle, together with Ukraine surrendering 4 southeastern provinces the place Russian forces have maintained partial management.
These land concessions, not together with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, would equal roughly 15 % of what Ukraine describes as its sovereign territory.
Adam Morrow, Emel Akan, Frank Fang, Invoice Pan, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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