Russia's negotiating team said on Monday that talks with their Ukrainian counterparts in Belarus failed to meet their expectations.
However, while the Russian delegation warned that progress for now remains an 'illusion', both sides said some progress had been made in establishing evacuation routes for civilians.
Delegations from Moscow and Kiev met Monday in Brest, Belarus, for the third round of peace talks aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
According to Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, expectations 'did not materialize'. Another member of the Russian team, Leonid Slutsky, said negotiations would continue.
Before the start of the negotiations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov laid out Russia's demands in an interview with Reuters.
Moscow wants Ukraine to change its constitution to exclude NATO membership, recognize Crimea as Russian territory and recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. If Ukraine meets these conditions, hostilities "will stop momentarily," Peskov said. The Ukrainian side has so far rejected these conditions.
Despite the deadlock, both sides announced that progress had been made in setting up humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave the combat zones. Efforts to do so in recent days have failed, with both sides accusing each other of breaking the ceasefire.
