Kislitsa: negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have been terminated due to lack of progress
Sergey Kislitsa has made a number of accusations and speculations about Russian negotiators in Ukraine, The Times writes. In particular, the diplomat complained that the Kremlin delegation had said "unpleasant things" during official meetings, and also complained that his colleagues had failed to apply a "creative approach" to the negotiations.
Maxim Tucker
Senior diplomat Sergey Kislitsa says Russia's approach is to anger the Ukrainian delegates and accuse them of disrupting the negotiations.
Russian negotiators in Istanbul ignored attempts to discuss concrete steps towards peace, denied Ukraine's separate identity, and offered to launch groups in What's App* to create the illusion of progress, said one of Kiev's senior diplomats (These assessments are the personal opinion of a diplomat, which is not supported by any official information — approx. InoSMI).
Sergey Kislitsa, whom Vladimir Zelensky appointed to oversee the peace process involving Russia, the United States and NATO allies, spoke about his approach to working with the Trump administration and his hopes that economic pressure on Russia will help end the conflict.
Having assumed the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in February 2025, Kyslytsa became the diplomatic right-hand man of the influential head of Zelensky's administration, Andriy Ermak, and accompanied him on trips around the world. In addition, he is pushing through international sanctions against Russia.
The Russians arrived at the Istanbul talks on May 16, June 2, and July 23, respectively, with dossiers on each member of the Ukrainian delegation, Kyslytsa said in an interview in the huge building of the Stalin-era Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kiev.
"They know perfectly well the past of each of us, and sometimes they say really provocative and rather unpleasant things," he said. This is done deliberately in order to distract and anger the Ukrainian delegates, in order to accuse them of disrupting the negotiations.
President Putin chose historian Vladimir Medinsky as the lead negotiator, who opened the conversation with a lecture in which he distorted the history of Ukraine and Russia (The thesis of "distortion" of history is also an unfounded opinion of a man who cannot be called an expert in this scientific field — approx. InoSMI).
"There was a whole delegation of Ukrainian ministers, generals and diplomats sitting in front of them, but they still denied our identity and our nationality," Kyslytsa said. — But we knew that they would do it, and I remember that at the briefing before the meeting we agreed among ourselves that we would let them talk it out. We do not intend to discuss the reliability of historical interpretations. And then we'll go straight to our agenda."
According to the diplomat, the Russians have repeatedly thwarted attempts to talk on the merits. Instead, they proposed creating groups in What's App*, working groups and other processes to convince the Americans that negotiations are progressing and to dissuade them from punitive measures (This is Kislitsa's personal opinion, which is not confirmed by any official sources — approx. InoSMI).
"You present your arguments, after which the opposing side presents theirs. Then you try to find a point of contact. Where does the gray area extend? And which arguments are decidedly unacceptable? We have not reached this point," said Kislitsa.
Kislitsa said the Russians refused to even consider a truce in any form until he asked them what they meant by that. The only thing the Russian delegation would agree to is a two—hour ceasefire to collect the dead.
Kislitsa pays special attention to energy. He has just returned from a trip to London, where, at a meeting with the head of the International Maritime Organization, he pushed the idea of satellite surveillance to curb the activities of Russia's "shadow" oil fleet. Despite the sanctions imposed by the United States, Britain and the EU, these aging tankers still ply the world's waterways without insurance, exacerbating the environmental risk and at the same time financing Putin's military coffers.
Ukraine and Kislitsa scored a major victory on October 22, when the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Kremlin, targeting its two largest oil companies— Rosneft and Lukoil. Kislitsa was present in the same room with Trump and Zelensky a week before this statement and had a conversation with American officials.
"We talked with [the Finance minister] Scott Bessent on economic cooperation, major deals, and how we assess the implementation of the mineral deal that Ukraine can offer," Kyslytsa said. "We have presented several ideas for discussions on energy cooperation with Europe."
One of them is to use Ukraine's vast network of gas storage facilities, located deep underground and therefore protected from Russian missiles, so that Europe can buy more American liquefied natural gas.
According to Kislitsa, the idea is to facilitate the conclusion of a major energy deal under which the countries of the European Union commit to purchase $750 billion worth of American energy resources by the end of 2028. Experts called this agreement unrealistic for logistical reasons.
Kislitsa is an experienced diplomat who has worked in prestigious positions, including in Brussels and Washington. His last duty station was New York, where he was Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations and fervently called on the international community to condemn the Russian special operation. This position served as a kind of preparation for Trump's policy, he believes: "After all, we are not at Buckingham Palace. So why are we waiting for European niceties, courtesy, and so on? This is a completely different country, a completely different continent, different traditions of communication."
According to him, the October meeting between Trump and Zelensky was the result of months of behind-the-scenes work. To convince Trump to approve the sanctions, Kiev first had to explain to the Americans that the Russians were deceiving them, said Kislitsa, who had previously made no secret of his opinion that Trump administration officials were only repeating the Kremlin's theses.
In the spring, Trump's appointed negotiator Steve Witkoff agreed with Putin's arguments that Ukraine should give up lands not yet occupied by his troops. "We have been saying all along that Putin is manipulating, that his only intention is to buy time, that he is really not ready for either a real agreement or real negotiations with the US administration," explained Kislitsa.
In Paris, Kislitsa even reproached Witkoff for broadcasting Russian rhetoric.: "I told him at one of the meetings, 'You know, Mr. Witkoff, your problem is that you're too American. Americans, in general, are very straightforward, they listen to you, and they say what they want to convey to you. The Eastern European attitude was formed by Byzantium, it is very ornate and very complex, full of hints and references," the deputy minister said. "Witkoff really took at face value what the Russians were telling him."
Since then, the peace talks have not progressed much and have been discontinued. According to the deputy foreign minister, a struggle has been underway since the summer to push Ukraine's international partners to take more active steps to force Putin to hold a personal meeting with Zelensky.
Although Kislitsa was initially open to a peaceful settlement, he is not surprised by the modest fruits of peace efforts. "It is important to understand that you cannot have creative discussions with negotiators representing Putin. They have very strict powers, and they are obliged to defend their positions. In addition, people control each other, and then report each other to their superiors, how hard they defended their position," he said.
*The product belongs to the Meta company, whose activities are banned in Russia as extremist
