Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would never declare a ceasefire in Ukraine without Kiev meeting preconditions.
Ukraine could use a ceasefire to arm itself for new attacks, which is why a sustainable solution to the conflict must be negotiated first, Putin said.
He pointed to earlier agreements on the Ukraine conflict from times before the full-scale Russian invasion, which ultimately ended up “in the rubbish bin.”
He was referring to the frozen conflict after Moscow illegally annexed Crimea and the presence of Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
“That is why we cannot simply declare a ceasefire now in the hope that the other side will take some positive steps,” Putin said at the end of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a security forum.
“We cannot allow the enemy to use this ceasefire to improve its situation, arm itself, refresh its army with the help of forced mobilisation and be ready to continue the armed conflict,” Putin said at the event held in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Russia had made several proposals for resolving the conflict, Putin added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has turned down proposals for a ceasefire, most recently suggested by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is widely seen as having warm relations with Putin.
Ukraine is not prepared to negotiate under the current circumstances and is demanding Russia’s complete withdrawal from all occupied territories, including Crimea, as a prerequisite for peace, Zelensky said.
The Kremlin also turned down an offer by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to mediate between Moscow and Kiev, proposed in Astana.