MOSCOW: Russia on Sunday rejected a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect negotiations with Kyiv on stopping strikes on energy and power targets, saying there had been no talks with Kyiv about civilian infrastructure facilities.
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to reach a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both warring parties.
It said the agreement would have amounted to a limited ceasefire but that the negotiations were derailed due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory.
“No one broke anything off because there was nothing to break off,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry.
She added there have been no direct or indirect talks between Russia and Ukraine on the safety of civilian critical infrastructure facilities.
The Washington Post reported that Ukraine’s presidential office said the summit in Doha had been canceled because of the situation in the Middle East and that it would take place in video conference format on August 22.
Russia and Ukraine have both blamed each other for striking civilian infrastructure in the war.
Zakharova quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying what talks there could be with Ukraine after its ground attack on Russia. “There is nothing to talk about with people who unleash such things,” Zakharova said.
Russia sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a “special military operation” and now holds about 18 percent of the country. Ukraine’s cross-border strike into the region of Kursk on August 6 was the first military incursion into the territory of Russia since World War II.
