The Ukrainian side has refused to hold negotiations with Russia, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.

“Yesterday, in connection with the expected negotiations with the Ukrainian leadership, the Supreme Commander, the President of Russia, ordered the suspension of the advance of the main forces of the Russian troops,” the spokesman told reporters, stating that the confrontations that took place on Friday were carried out “with mobile groups of nationalists”.

“Since, in fact, the Ukrainian side refuses to negotiate, the advance of the main Russian forces resumed this afternoon, according to the plan of the operation,” he continued.

Ukrainian response

For his part, Alexei Arestovich, advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, confirmed to the Ukrainian newspaper Straná that Kyiv rejected the negotiations.

“Yes. Ukraine refused to negotiate. Because the conditions that the Russian side has altered through intermediaries do not satisfy us. It was an attempt to force us to surrender. We gave them a signal that the terms of a possible peace treaty are possible on the terms of Kyiv, and not on those of Moscow,” said Arestovich, who called the conditions presented by Moscow “too arrogant”.

“We will negotiate in the conditions that we will present and not they”, affirmed.

About an hour later, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mikhail Podoliak, blamed the Kremlin for “trying to block the negotiations even before they start.”

“Ukraine listened to the negotiating position outlined in Moscow. They know our vision of the negotiating format and our position. Therefore, their comments that we have supposedly abandoned the negotiations are just part of their tactics,” he said.

“It is clear that a different approach is needed. The negotiations must be based on common sense and be such that an honest solution can be found in the interests of the people and the nation state of Ukraine,” Podoliak noted. Likewise, he called Peskov’s words about the suspense of the operation a “lie” and asserted that this Friday and early Saturday morning “there were cruel combats, at maximum intensity.”

In the early hours of this Friday, the president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, indicated that he was willing to negotiate to stop the Russian military operation in the country. In the afternoon of the same day, Peskov stated that the Ukrainian authorities were not cooperating with Moscow in the preparation of bilateral negotiations while increasing their ability to repel Russian troops in Ukraine itself. Finally, on Friday night, Ukraine’s presidential spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov, announced that Kyiv accepted Moscow’s proposal to hold negotiations, adding that his country is willing to talk about a ceasefire and peace.