Russia Says Negotiations with Ukraine Are Now 'Impossible'

Moscow has dismissed the chances of negotiations with Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine that Vladimir Putin started.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine "are now impossible since there are no conditions for them either de facto or de jure."

He said listening to the messaging from Kyiv, "we know the legal justification of the impossibility of negotiations" on the part of Ukraine and that "de facto, one thing can be recognized—there are no conditions for such negotiations," news agency Tass reported.

Peskov's comments come as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Kyiv of rejecting peace talks during a visit to South Africa.

Last week, Lavrov said the conflict would only end when Ukraine is no longer a military threat to Moscow.

Lavrov also said Moscow was prepared to hold talks with Kyiv early on in the war but the U.S. and other allies advised Ukraine against it.

"We supported the proposal of the Ukrainian side to negotiate early in the special military operation," Lavrov said, the Associated Press reported, "and by the end of March the two delegations agreed on the principle to settle this conflict."

This echoes Vladimir Putin's claims that Ukraine's western allies were stopping Kyiv from holding talks with Moscow.

Lavrov said it was "well known" that the Ukraine's western allies said it was "too early" for a deal "and the arrangement which was almost agreed was never revisited" by Kyiv.

Russia has repeatedly rejected the 10-point peace plan for negotiations proposed by Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky, which included restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and Putin pulling out all of his troops.

U.S. President Joe Biden has indicated he could talk to Putin if the Russian president showed that he seriously wanted to end the invasion. However, Kyiv and its allies suspect Moscow might use the time spent on negotiations to regroup its forces.

Lavrov's comments follow a meeting of Ukraine's allies which saw no breakthrough in the call for Germany to allow its Leopard 2 tanks to be delivered to Ukraine to fight Russian aggression.

However, on Monday, the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki restated Warsaw could send its stock of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine even without Berlin's permission.

It follows a statement by Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbok that Berlin "would not stand in the way" if Poland decided to send its tanks to Ukraine, although no official request has been made by Warsaw for the transfer.

As a producer of the tanks, Germany has the veto on re-exporting the vehicles.

Update 01/23/23, 9: a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.