Moscow and Kiev are holding private talks to determine possible compromises. The negotiations are taking place at the level of political advisers, writes Die Zeit, citing informed sources.
The parties are discussing avoiding mutual attacks on energy infrastructure facilities, exchanging prisoners, resuming the grain deal and returning Ukrainian children, as well as the future fate of the annexed Crimea. Meetings were held in Kyiv, Davos, Copenhagen, Jeddah and other cities. They were attended by representatives of the G7 countries and China. According to sources, the issue of possible peace talks between the two countries is practically resolved, and Moscow and Kiev are discussing the format, place and date of such a dialogue.
Last Wednesday, informed sources of the Financial Times reported that Ukraine and Russia, with the mediation of Qatar, resumed negotiations on stopping attacks on each other's energy infrastructure. According to senior Ukrainian officials, Kiev wants to return to the agreement that was almost reached before the invasion of the Kursk region by Ukrainian armed forces. They noted that in recent weeks, Moscow and Kiev have already reduced the frequency of attacks on each other's energy infrastructure as part of an agreement between the two countries' intelligence services. Ukraine plans to continue targeting oil refineries to pressure Russian authorities and lead to negotiations, a senior Ukrainian official said. : According to him, apart from the drone attacks, Kiev "does not have significant leverage to [force the Russians] to negotiate".
According to the FT, in the fall of 2023, Kiev and Moscow have already signed a "non-public agreement" not to hit each other's energy facilities. As a result, Russia last winter refrained from large-scale attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure that would have taken place in 2022-2023.
For his part, the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, called the newspaper's information "stuff", but confirmed that Russia will not negotiate as long as the armed forces of Ukraine are in the Kursk region.
