Head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia, who also leads the Ukrainian delegation in the negotiation process with Russia, says that Ukraine's negotiating position is currently weak.

"Our negotiating position is actually quite weak, so we don't want to sit at the table if we are in this position. We need to reverse it in some way," he said in an interview with American news website Axios, stressing the need for a counter-operation to regain lost territory.

Axios also reported that while formal negotiations are frozen, Arakhamia said he and his team speak by phone with their Russian counterparts "one or two times per week" to check in, even though "both sides clearly realize that right now, there is no place for negotiation."