Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said that Russia began to sharply lose interest in peace talks with Ukraine after the meeting of the foreign ministers of both countries in Istanbul in March.

"The negotiations were like a match. First you set it on fire, it burns strongly and brightly. Then, the longer it burns, the smaller it becomes, and eventually disappears. There remains only a burnt match, which is thrown to the ground and rubbed with a foot. About the same thing happened with the negotiations," Kuleba said on the air of the national telethon on Thursday, answering a question about whether there was a specific moment after which the peace talks stopped.

He clarified that after his meeting with head of Russian diplomacy Sergey Lavrov, which took place in Istanbul in March, it became clear that Russia was "losing its appetite for negotiations."

"The reasons for this will still need to be investigated. But every week we saw that there is a direct dependence: the more aggressive Russia is on the battlefield, the less interest it has in negotiations," the diplomat stressed.

According to him, the actions of the Russian Federation recently indicate that Moscow does not want to negotiate. "Russia chose war, not negotiations. That's why they died out," Kuleba summed up.

As reported, the first round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia took place in Gomel region (Belarus) on February 28. Ukraine is represented in the negotiation process, in particular, by Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov, adviser to the head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podoliak, head of the parliamentary faction Servant of the People David Arakhamia. The Russian delegation at the talks is headed by ex-Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky.

The second round of negotiations was held in Brest region of Belarus on March 3. The sides mainly discussed issues of humanitarian corridors, but no particular success was achieved.

On March 7, the third round of negotiations was held in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus.

On March 10, the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Russia held a meeting in Istanbul with the mediation of the Turkish Foreign Minister. After its completion, head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kuleba said that the Russian Federation is seeking the surrender of Ukraine, "but we will not give up."

On March 12, adviser to the head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podoliak announced the creation of special working groups in the negotiation process, and the negotiations themselves began to be conducted continuously in video format.

"Negotiations with the delegation of the Russian Federation continue continuously in video format. Special working subgroups have been created. Ukraine's positions are determined by very strict previous directives," Podoliak wrote on Twitter.

On March 16, Podoliak said that negotiations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation are continuing, there are fundamental contradictions, but there is room for compromise.

On March 23, this was also announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that negotiations with Russia are "difficult, sometimes scandalous, but we are moving forward step by step."

On May 17, Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the head of the President’s Office, said that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia had been terminated, but sooner or later they would resume. At the same time, according to Podoliak, Kyiv does not intend to make territorial concessions for the sake of "saving the face" of Putin.