A possible draft deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is not ready to be discussed at the highest level, Russian media reported on Sunday, citing Moscow's chief negotiator.
"The Ukrainian side became more realistic in approaching the issues related to Ukraine's neutral and non-nuclear status but the draft of the agreement is not ready to be presented at the top-level meeting," said presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who also heads the Russian delegation in peace talks with Ukraine, according to the TASS news agency.
Medinsky's comments came after Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia told a Ukrainian television network that the Russian side "confirmed our thesis that draft documents have been developed enough to conduct direct consultations between the two leaders of the countries."
The chief Russian negotiator said Moscow's stance on the status of Crimea and Donbas "remained unchanged," the agency reported.
The talks between the delegations would continue on Monday, he said, adding that "work on the text of the agreement and between the heads of delegations continued in a remote format on Friday and Saturday," according to TASS.
In a breakthrough, Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks in Istanbul on March 29 as the war entered its second month with casualties piling up on both sides.
During the talks, Ukrainian officials signaled readiness to negotiate a "neutral status," a key Russian demand, but demanded security guarantees for their country.
Russia, meanwhile, pledged to significantly decrease its military activities toward the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv to build up trust for future negotiations.
Ukraine wants to see countries, including Turkey, as guarantors in a deal with Russia, a Ukrainian negotiator said after the talks.
The Russian war against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.
At least 1,417 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,038 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.
More than 4.1 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.
