STALLED DIPLOMACY
US-led talks aimed at ending the four-year conflict have stalled in recent weeks because of the war in the Middle East.
Even before the Iran war, progress towards a peace deal in Ukraine had been slow, due to differences over the issue of territory.
Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along the current front lines.
But Russia has rejected this, saying it wants Ukraine to give up all the territory in the Donetsk region that it currently controls – a demand Kyiv says is unacceptable.
Several rounds of US-led talks have failed to bring the warring sides closer to an agreement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia had discussed the ceasefire with Ukraine or the United States in advance and said it was not linked to negotiations to end the war.
The war has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes, making it Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
After four years, fighting on the front has come to a near standstill.
Russia has made small territorial gains at a high cost.
But Kyiv recently managed to push back in the southeast, and Russian advances have been slowing since late 2025, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Apart from Ukrainian counter-attacks, analysts attributed the slowdown to Russia being banned from using SpaceX’s Starlink satellites and Moscow’s own efforts to block the Telegram messaging app.
But the situation is unfavourable for Ukraine in the Donetsk region, near the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, according to the ISW.
Moscow occupies just over 19 per cent of Ukraine, most of which was seized during the first weeks of the conflict.