MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Wednesday ahead of a planned meeting in New York between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that there were still no grounds for Ukraine peace talks to take place even though it remained open to such talks.
“For now, there are no prerequisites for moving onto a peaceful negotiating track, although we, as the Russian side, remain open to peace talks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at a trilateral meeting with Trump, expressing hope that the US would bring Moscow to the negotiating table after talks to end the nearly five-year war unraveled earlier this year.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin stood ready to meet Trump one-on-one if both leaders deemed such a meeting necessary.
But he made it clear that Russia’s stance on the possibility of Putin and Zelenskyy meeting in person had not changed. The Kremlin has said that Zelenskyy would need to come to Moscow for such a meeting having already taken decisions Russia has been pushing for, an idea that Kyiv has repeatedly dismissed as unacceptable suggesting any talks could only be held in a neutral country.
Peskov also played down the idea of a summit: “Generally speaking, in any other circumstances, it would be inappropriate to hold a summit meeting before the groundwork has been laid at expert level, as this would be a waste of time,” he said.
![PESHAWAR, JAN 12 /DNA/ - Owing to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's precarious law and order circumstances, the provincial assembly has written a letter to the Peshawar corps commander seeking an in-camera briefing on ongoing operations and the security situation in the province. "The [special] Committee desires to receive a detailed briefing from Headquarters XI Corps, Peshawar, particularly in the context of the ongoing operations being conducted by the federal government and LEAs in the merged districts of KP," reads the letter issued by KP Assembly Deputy Secretary Tariq Noor, while referring to the Special Committee (on Security) constituted by the house. The committee features more than 40 members, including the leader of the house, the leader of the opposition and provincial ministers, along with parliamentary leaders of respective political parties. The letter, dated January 8, also points out that the committee has received detailed briefings from key stakeholders, including the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary, the IGP, and now seeks a briefing as part of the consultative process. Letter written by KP Assemblys deputy secretary to Headquarters XI Corps. — Reporter Letter written by KP Assembly's deputy secretary to Headquarters XI Corps. — Reporter The KP Assembly's request for a briefing from a senior army commander comes as the province, as stated by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry in a recent media briefing, accounted for nearly 71% of all the terrorist incidents in 2025. The overwhelming share of KP in facing terror incidents, as per the military's spokesperson, was due to a "politically conducive environment and the flourishing political-criminal-terror-nexus" in the province. Noting that the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in KP was resisting counterterrorism efforts at every forum — a claim denied by the PTI — Lt Gen Chaudhry highlighted that the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) carried out 75,175 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across the country in 2025, of which 14,658 IBOs were conducted in KP. Out of the total 5,397 terrorism incidents reported nationwide in the previous year, as many as 3,811 incidents occurred in KP. The issue of terrorism and military operations has been a point of contention between the PTI's KP government and the Centre in recent times, where the former has time and again stressed a political solution and dialogue, whereas the latter has pressed on with taking action against the terrorists. This is also reflected by the KP Assembly's letter to the Headquarters XI Corps, Peshawar, which says that the Special Committee (on Security) "acknowledges the importance of security measures but considers that operation alone without broader political, social and developmental initiatives may not ensure suitable peace and stability and could risk further unrest in the province".](https://islamabadpost.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/security-forces-218x150.jpg "Security Forces clear Indian-sponsored terrorist hideouts in Quetta’s Shaban area.")
