Kremlin says it cannot imagine public negotiations with Kyiv

The Kremlin on Thursday accused Kyiv of shifting the goalposts regarding possible peace talks, said it could not imagine engaging in public negotiations and called on Washington to push Kyiv towards diplomacy. In a briefing call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United States was capable of taking Russia's concerns into account and could encourage Kyiv to return to the negotiating table if it wanted to.

Peskov also said Ukraine had changed its position on whether it even wanted to negotiate with Moscow several times during the course of the nine-month conflict and could not be relied on.