Kremlin Confirms Ukraine Talks ‘On Pause’ As Zelensky Rules Out Giving Up The East

The Kremlin confirmed Friday what most observers should consider obvious at this point – Ukraine peace talks are not happening. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a Friday press briefing that talks to end the war in Ukraine are on “pause”.

“Negotiators remain in contact, but for now it is probably more accurate to speak of a pause,” Peskov said, after the sides met twice so far this year, which resulted from President Trump’s efforts to mediate.

“You shouldn’t wear rose-tinted glasses and expect lightning-fast results,” Peskov added, which seemed an indirect criticism of Trump’s earlier claims of being able to achieve peace quickly.

Interestingly, Peskov took a swipe at European leaders, describing the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ as actively “impeding” negotiations. He sill emphasized that Moscow is committed to the “path of peaceful dialogue.”

The Western allies have been pushing ‘security guarantees’ which include troops from NATO countries which are to make up a ‘reassurance force’ – a prospect which Russia has condemned as an impossibility. 

As for President Trump’s assessment of where things stand, he offered this in a Friday Fox News appearance: 

President Trump on Fox and Friends on the state of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine:

“It’s amazing. When Putin wants to do it, Zelensky didn’t. When Zelensky wanted to do it, Putin didn’t. Now Zelensky wants to do it and Putin is a question mark.” pic.twitter.com/MMIOfx0wbh

— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) September 12, 2025

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelensky has again ruled out giving up “the east”, saying it cannot be a “bargaining chip” - in fresh comments. This stance is nothing new, but territorial concessions will be key in any future permanent peace deal.

Despite slow but steady Russian gains on the ground, Zelensky is still holding out hope of gaining the military momentum, despite being outgunned and outmanned.

Politico writes, “Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump and U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Steve Witkoff that he intends to occupy Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in a few months, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview published Tuesday.”

Zelensky told ABC News, “That is, he [Putin] says that in three to four months, and this is what he told the Americans, the White House, and President Trump’s representative Witkoff, he said that he would take Donbas in two to three months, maximum four months.”

*ZELENSKIY: UKRAINE’S EAST CANNOT BE A BARGAINING CHIP

*ZELENSKIY: RUSSIA WON’T BE ABLE TO SEIZE WHOLE EAST OF UKRAINE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 12, 2025

Ukraine war headlines have largely receded to the background this week, in wake of the horrific assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Yet fighting and the intensified cross-border attacks, particularly targeting each’s energy sites, continue on with no end in sight.