The Kremlin wants to end the war with a negotiated solution, says former Chancellor Schröder after his visit to Moscow and sees this as good news. You see that differently in Ukraine. The alleged willingness to talk is nothing but a cloud of fog, according to sources in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leadership believes statements by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is ready for peace negotiations to be implausible. "There is nothing more cynical than the claims by Putin supporters that Russia is ready to negotiate," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on his Twitter channel. The daily shelling of Ukrainian territory said otherwise.
The Ukrainian chief diplomat referred to heavy artillery fire and rocket attacks against civilian objects. In addition, he once again accused the Russian military of serious war crimes. "Russia remains focused on the war - everything else is a cloud of smoke," added Kuleba.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj sounded similar in his daily video speech in the evening. The Kremlin is only pretending to be willing to negotiate, he said. If Russia were really interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict, it would not now be massing further reserves in southern Ukraine. In this context, Selenskyj also explicitly criticized Gerhard Schröder. "It's just disgusting when former leaders of powerful states with European values work for Russia, which fights against these values," said Zelenskyy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia was quite ready to settle the "problem" diplomatically - but only on Russian terms. After the Russian attack on Ukraine at the end of February, there were short-term efforts to find a diplomatic solution. The last round of negotiations took place in Istanbul at the end of March. There was a rapprochement, but there was no further meeting afterwards. The last phone conversations between the negotiators were reported in May. Both sides are obviously hoping to improve their negotiating position, first using military means.
