Talks with U.S. were meaningful, but no progress due to Russia — Ukraine FM
Nation25 March, 06:29 PM
“Russia does not want diplomacy and does not want to participate in or advance this process. It is blocking everything and betting on war. And when pressure on it is eased, it certainly loses motivation and interest in moving toward peace. Nevertheless, the work continues. Ukraine is constructively engaged in this process,” he said.
According to Tykhyi, Kyiv indeed wants a trilateral Ukraine-U.S.-Russia meeting at the highest level, which “could certainly unblock the process and lead to breakthroughs in the direction of a peaceful settlement.”
The spokesperson said the Ukrainian side has workable and acceptable proposals on how to resolve the most sensitive and complex issues in the peace process. However, he stressed that everything depends on Russia, which is blocking the process.
Tykhyi said that, in addition to meetings and consultations among Ukraine, U.S. and Russian teams, there is ongoing daily work on the humanitarian track, including prisoner exchanges and the return of civilians from captivity.
“This work is ongoing, even beyond the framework of direct meetings. For Ukraine, the return of people is a priority. And we will use every opportunity to organize another exchange, another return. Regardless of Russia’s position or other developments in the world, this track remains active. It is working and continues,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson added.
On March 21–22, talks between Ukraine and the United States took place in Florida, where the sides focused on narrowing differences and outlining further steps toward a peace agreement. The delegations discussed aligning their approaches and agreed to continue the negotiation process.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the meetings produced signals of a possible continuation of exchanges and discussions on security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe.
The president also instructed Ukraine’s negotiating team to continue working as actively as possible with partners to ensure diplomacy is substantive and addresses, in particular, humanitarian issues.