German foreign minister says Ukraine peace talks at 'deadlock', but China disagrees

The German foreign minister says that US President Donald Trump's efforts to secure a truce in Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine are at a deadlock, but her Chinese counterpart claims that it is encouraging that peace talks between Washington and Moscow continue.

Arriving in Kyiv for an unannounced visit, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that "due to the deadlock" between the US and Russia on a ceasefire deal, European allies' continued support for Ukraine in the war is "absolutely crucial".

Yet at the same time, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a visit to Moscow, was quoted as saying Tuesday that "certain results have been achieved" in Washington's attempt to stop the Kremlin's full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year.

In an interview with Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, he said that Beijing supports the goal of "a fair, long-term, binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties involved".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Wang is scheduled to meet with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday, but no further details were given.

No end in sight

On Sunday, Trump scolded his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, expressing frustration at the continued fighting in a war that he had pledged to stop in 24 hours.

Trump insisted progress was being made in the negotiations his administration is leading, but also said he would consider imposing further sanctions on Moscow over its latest attacks. He also accused Zelenskyy of trying to back out of a deal with the US on access to Ukraine's mineral resources.

Putin has effectively rejected Trump's proposal for an immediate 30-day pause in the war. A partial ceasefire in the Black Sea that could allow for safer civilian shipping has been scuttled by conditions imposed by Kremlin negotiators.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, Russia is holding out on a Black Sea deal in order to "stall efforts toward a general ceasefire and extract additional concessions from the West".

Putin has insisted that Moscow wants a comprehensive agreement ensuring a lasting settlement, but Kyiv firmly rejects his demands for territorial concessions and limitations on Ukrainian foreign relations.

Ukraine has also alleged that Putin has intentionally made maximalist demands in the talks as a way of stalling any actual agreement.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have continued to attempt to push forward in Ukraine's east, with analysts stating Moscow is preparing a large-scale spring campaign along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line.

According to authorities, last night was the first in more than five months that Russia fired no Shahed drones at Ukrainian targets. But Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine's Security Council, warned there was no sign of a change in Russian strategy.

"For now, this means nothing," he said on Telegram.