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Ukraine ceasefire never West’s 'real agenda' says Moscow

26.07.2025 12:30
Peace talks and a settlement in Ukraine have never been on the real agenda of the West, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.
Spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova
Spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova Photo: PAP/Abaca

In her first comments on negotiations since Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks on Wednesday, Maria Zakharova argued that if the West wanted "real peace" in Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons, the Reuters news agency wrote.

Earlier, in her weekly briefing on Thursday, she had declined to comment on the talks.

Her statement came as Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday its forces had captured two villages in eastern Ukraine: Zelenyi Hai in the Donetsk region and Maliivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a part of Ukraine's mining heartland, particularly for coal that powers the electricity grid.

Further Russian advances could harm Ukraine's economy and energy supplies, analysts say.

Authorities have already been ordering civilians with children to flee a front line that is creeping closer.

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea  - that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.


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Source: Reuters, AFP