Moscow's Chief of the General Staff announces continuation of attacks

According to Gerasimov, around 99.7 percent of the Ukrainian region of Luhansk is currently controlled by the Russian armed forces. In the Ukrainian region of Donetsk it is 79 percent and in the regions of Kherson 76 percent and Zaporizhia 74 percent. These figures cannot be independently verified.

Russia is demanding that the Ukrainian armed forces withdraw completely from the Donetsk region, for example, and leave the region to Moscow's army in order to achieve a ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi rejects this - also because the Ukrainian-held cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk are considered important bastions of defense. Russia is therefore threatening to conquer the cities.

Russian accusations of sabotage by Europeans

The Russian delegation member at the negotiations so far, Kirill Dmitriyev, said that the Europeans were trying to drag out the Ukraine conflict by making unfulfillable demands. The USA had begun to understand this. "The EU should stop sabotaging the peace process," he said. Russia repeatedly criticizes the fact that the Europeans want to send troops to Ukraine to secure a possible future peace. However, Moscow categorically rejects representatives from NATO states.

The Europeans, in turn, accuse Russia of delaying tactics. Moscow is also trying to gain time for new attacks with the prospect of negotiations and ever new deadlines, according to Kiev. Russia has been waging its destructive war of aggression for more than three and a half years.