Russia seeking talks to buy time for a fresh attack, Kyiv says

Russia is trying to get Ukraine into fresh talks to buy time to regroup so it can launch a fresh offensive, a Ukraine presidential adviser says.

For weeks now, the Kremlin has been “trying to convince Ukraine to enter into negotiations,” Mykhaylo Podolyak says, as the sixth month of the war draws to a close.

During such talks, Moscow wants to “freeze the conflict while preserving the status quo in the occupied Ukrainian territories,” he adds.

Russia “sends its proposals via various intermediaries,” he says, without naming them, as Kyiv currently has no political contact with Russia.

Kyiv has rejected any negotiated solution for Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation. It wants to recapture that territory, as well as territory held by Russian separatists in the east — and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.