The Kremlin said today that US-brokered trilateral talks in the UAE between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend had been held in a "constructive spirit" but that there was still "significant work ahead".
"It would be a mistake to expect any significant results from the initial contacts... But the very fact that these contacts have begun in a constructive spirit can be viewed positively. However, there is significant work ahead," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
However, Mr Peskov added that that the issue of territory remained fundamental.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia will take all of Ukraine's Donbas region - of which Moscow's forces currently control 90% - by force unless Kyiv gives it up in a peace deal.
"It's no secret that this is our consistent position, the position of our president, that the territorial issue, which is part of the Anchorage formula, is of fundamental importance to the Russian side," Mr Peskov said.
The 'Anchorage formula' refers to what Russia says was agreed between US President Donald Trump and Putin at a summit in Alaska last August.
That purported agreement, according to the same source, envisaged Ukraine handing Russia control of all of Donbas and freezing the front lines elsewhere in Ukraine's east and south as a condition of any future peace deal.
Kyiv has repeatedly said that it will not gift Russia territory which Moscow has failed to win on the battlefield.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul today denounced Russia's "stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue".
"What I am hearing and reading today, including from the negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, is only Russia's stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue," Wadephul said during a visit to Latvia.
"And if there is no flexibility here, I fear that the negotiations may still take a long time or may not be successful at this stage."
Wadephul welcomed the US-mediated talks but added that it was "clear that Europe must be at the table when decisions are made about the security order of our continent - and Russia must know that our commitment to diplomacy does not come at the expense of our determination to support Ukraine".
Speaking alongside Latvia's foreign minister, Wadephul stressed that it was "a decisive moment for the future of our European continent".
"We will only see real peace negotiations if Russia understands that Europe stands united with Ukraine," he said.
Ukraine strikes Russian oil refinery
Meanwhile, two enterprises caught fire and one person was injured in the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia's Krasnodar region overnight after drone fragments fell on them, the regional emergencies centre said today.
Ukraine's military said it had struck the Slavyansk Eko oil refinery in Krasnodar.
"Strike drones were recorded hitting the plant's territory and explosions were heard in the target area. According to preliminary information, elements of the primary oil processing facility were hit," the statement said.
The refinery has a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day, supplying fuel for both domestic use and export.
Russia's defence ministry added that air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 34 in the Krasnodar region.
