Moscow (AFP) – Russia on Thursday said it was still waiting for Ukraine to commit to new talks in Istanbul on Monday, after Kyiv demanded Moscow send its peace terms before pledging to attend the meeting.

Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have gained pace in recent months, but Russia has maintained an intense bombardment of Ukraine and repeatedly rebuffed calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Moscow offered to hold a second round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, when it said it would present a “memorandum” outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement.

Ukraine said the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance, a proposal the Kremlin dismissed.

“As far as I know, no response has been received yet… we need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling Kyiv’s demand to hand over its peace terms “non-constructive”.

Ukraine said it had already submitted its own vision of a peace settlement to Russia and demanded Moscow do the same.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was “doing everything they can to make the meetings empty. And this is another reason why there must be sufficient sanctions, sufficient pressure on Russia.”

“We continue to urge (Russia) to share this document,” said Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Georgiy Tykhy.

Moscow’s refusal to send the document “suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums”, he said.