MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. Yulia Mendel, Vladimir Zelensky's former press secretary, said that Boris Johnson, then British prime minister, had blocked Ukraine and Russia from signing peace agreements in April 2022.

"I didn't meet him [Johnson] in April 2022 [in Kiev]. I wasn't there, but Ukrainians who were there told me that Boris Johnson intervened and influenced Zelensky, saying he could become a hero and could continue this war. It seems that the British, UK prime ministers, really do want to wear Russia down using Ukrainians," she said in an interview on German journalist Patrik Baab's YouTube channel.

Russia and Ukraine held their first talks since the start of the special military operation in Belarus in early March 2022, but made no substantial progress. Another round took place in Istanbul on March 29, when Moscow received Kiev's written principles for a possible future agreement for the first time. These included commitments to Ukraine's neutral, non-aligned status and a pledge not to host foreign weapons, including nuclear arms. Ukraine subsequently unilaterally broke off the talks.

In November 2023, David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People faction in Ukraine's parliament, told the 1+1 television channel why Kiev had abandoned talks with Moscow in 2022. After the Ukrainian delegation returned from Istanbul, he said, Johnson came to Kiev and told them: "We won't sign anything with them at all." The British prime minister also suggested that they "just fight."