Russian-Ukrainian talks to resume virtually on Monday

Russia said on Sunday that peace talks with Ukraine had not progressed enough for a leaders' meeting and that Moscow's position on the status of Crimea and Donbas remained unchanged, Reuters reported.

Medinsky said that Ukraine had started to show a more realistic approach to peace talks.

He said Ukraine had agreed it would be neutral, not have nuclear weapons, not join a military bloc and refuse to host military bases.

Medinsky said he did not share the optimism of Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia, who told Ukrainian television on Saturday that the draft deal was advanced enough to allow consultations between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Unfortunately, I don't share Arakhamia's optimism," Medinsky said. "Moreover, Ukrainian diplomatic and military experts lag far behind on confirming even those agreements which were already reached at the political level on the draft text."

Talks via videoconference would continue on Monday, he said.

MP/PR