Russia continues to delay the peace process

According to Putin's aide, official Moscow's work on a memorandum on the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine is at an "advanced stage."

I don't know how it is from that side, but our work is already at an advanced stage, and in any case we will hand over this memorandum to the Ukrainians, as agreed, and we will expect what they will do (the same thing — ).

Sergey Lavrov

Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry

The Russian diplomat also officially confirmed that an exact date for the second round of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow has not yet been set.

Against this background, he rejected the Pope's proposal to hold a meeting between the two delegations at the Vatican.

Holding negotiations on Ukraine in the Vatican is a bit inelegant: Orthodox countries will be discussing the issue on a Catholic platform.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also officially confirmed that the Putin and Zelensky teams have not yet agreed on a new meeting.