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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv has offered to hold another round of peace talks with Russia next week in an effort to speed up progress toward a ceasefire.
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In his evening address to the nation on Saturday, Zelenskyy said, “Everything should be done to achieve a ceasefire. The Russian side should stop hiding from decisions,” according to Reuters.
The offer was sent to Moscow by Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian team in earlier talks and was recently appointed as the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council.
Ukraine and Russia have already held two rounds of talks in Istanbul in the past five months. While they agreed to swap prisoners, no major progress has been made toward ending the war, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Russia continues its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Moscow has said it is open to more talks but has not changed its main demands, which Ukraine and its allies call unrealistic.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump warned that tougher sanctions could be imposed on Russia if a peace agreement is not reached within 50 days, amid ongoing Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities.
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