Hostilities may end within hours, but ball is in Kiev’s court — Kremlin spokesman

On 25 July 2026, Kazakhstan’s President Tokayev urged Putin, speaking alongside him, to freeze the war in Ukraine and resume peace talks, according to Reuters and the Financial Times. The Straits Times quoted him saying “all this has to be stopped”, and WELT quoted him calling it a shame that young people are dying. TRT World wrote that he referred to an “Istanbul Formula 2.0”, and Gazeta.ru reported that he declined to act as a mediator, saying Russia will cope on its own.

The Kremlin spokesman said hostilities may end within hours but that the ball is in Kiev’s court, and that Putin gave Tokayev a detailed account of Russia’s operation in Ukraine. TRT World reported the Kremlin called a freeze “impossible”, and Al-Ahram quoted Peskov saying Russia’s condition for a settlement is achieving its goals.