The political scientist called the disruption of negotiations with Russia the main task of the Kiev regime.

The Kiev regime set the task of disrupting the negotiation process, therefore, it did not appear at the place of the exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of the dead, Ivan Mezyukho, a political scientist and chairman of the Crimean regional public organization Center for Political Education, told Izvestia on June 8.

"With this trick of not communicating with the Russian side about receiving the bodies of their own fellow citizens, the Kiev regime confirms that it does not intend to negotiate with the Russian Federation or talk about the root causes of the conflict," he said.

Mezyuho added that with this decision, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also entered into a confrontation with American President Donald Trump.

"Today Zelensky is in a political battle with Europe, represented by the EU and the UK. But if Europe escalates the conflict, then Zelensky goes further. He is going to super-escalate <...>. And this is a big challenge for the entire global security architecture. Donald Trump should understand this," the political scientist emphasized.

According to him, the main task for Zelensky is to disrupt the negotiations and make sure that there are no more subsequent meetings.

"Therefore, at first, at press briefings, he questions the fact that the Russian Federation will transfer the bodies of Ukrainian citizens to him. This doubt does not stand up to any criticism at all. And then he starts disrupting the agreements that were reached within the framework of the humanitarian block of issues between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul," concluded Mezyuho.

Arrogance on nerves: Zelensky refuses to take the memorandum of the Russian Federation seriously

The Ukrainian leader called further meetings with Russia in Istanbul meaningless.

Yesterday, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said that the Ukrainian side had unexpectedly postponed indefinitely the reception of the bodies of dead soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war. He also called on Ukraine to comply with the agreed schedule and fulfill all the agreements that were reached at the second round of negotiations in Istanbul.

Prior to that, Zelensky said that Kiev refuses to take the memorandum of the Russian Federation seriously. The Ukrainian leader added that he considers it "pointless" to continue meetings in Istanbul at the current level of delegations.