The deal, which could have ended the Ukraine conflict weeks after it started, was approved by negotiators in Istanbul, but Kiev later pulled out of the talks.

The German newspaper Welt reported on Friday that Moscow had issued additional demands after a deal had already been outlined, such as making Russian the second official language in Ukraine, implying that this had ended any hopes of an agreement.

Peskov denied those claims on Saturday, citing remarks made by Ukrainian MP David Arakhamia, who led Kiev’s delegation at the talks.

In an interview to domestic media last November, Arakhamia said then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had intervened in the peace process and had urged the Ukrainians to “just fight” Russia.

Kiev effectively discarded the deal under “direct pressure by London,” Peskov stressed, adding, “The rest is speculation. I suggest we learn from the source.”

Asked whether the draft treaty could serve as a basis for further peace talks, Peskov said Kiev’s public position was to reject talks with Russia. The idea of reviving the failed agreement was floated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko when he met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this month.

Johnson has denied derailing the peace talks, but has also bragged on multiple occasions about his policy of nudging Kiev into continuing hostilities with Russia, which the British politician claims to be a fight for global democracy.

“There could be no more effective way of investing in Western security than investing in Ukraine, because those guys without a single pair of American boots on the ground are fighting for the West,” Johnson told students at Georgetown University during a visit to the US this month. The Ukrainians “are effectively fighting our own fight, fighting for our own interests,” he added.

Russian officials have described the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Moscow, which the US and its allies allegedly intend to wage “to the last Ukrainian”. Their goal, according to Moscow, is to contain Russia and stall its development, rather than protect the interests of the Ukrainian people.

Also on Friday, Shoigu identified Washington as a major source of global instability, citing its record of military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The US also uses financial and diplomatic tools to damage its adversaries and fuel chaos in different parts of the world, he claimed.

“The US had first created, and now is deliberately prolonging the Ukraine conflict,” the minister stated, adding, “As it signals purported intention to de-escalate, the West keeps pumping Kiev with weapons.”

Ukraine cannot properly manage the donations, however, which increases the risk that the funds could go to terrorist groups, Shoigu warned. He also pointed to direct NATO involvement in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

“They provide real-time intelligence, train Ukrainian troops, deploy Western military specialists and mercenaries on the battlefield,” Shoigu noted.

Air defenses foiled “an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack” and intercepted more than ten drones over the Slavyansk, Kushevsk and Seversky districts, Veniamin Kondratyev wrote in a Telegram post on Saturday morning. There were no reports of casualties, he added.

The Russian military intercepted a total of 68 UAVs overnight, including two over the Crimean Peninsula, the Defense Ministry reported on Saturday morning.

An aerial strike damaged a distillation column at the Slavyansk-on-Kuban oil refinery, the head of the Slavyansk district, Roman Sinyagovsky, reported. The attack caused a fire which has since been extinguished, the official wrote in a Telegram post.

“There have been nine attacks in total on the tank farm and distillation column. Thanks to the built-in protection system, the tank farm hasn’t been damaged.”

The region’s operational headquarters later reported that a fire had also been extinguished at a separation unit at the crude processing facility.

Eyewitnesses told the SHOT Telegram channel that Ukrainian kamikaze drones had struck at around 4 a.m. Explosions reportedly lasted for more than 30 minutes as air defense and electronic warfare systems were activated.

The Slavyansk oil refinery in Krasnodar Region has already been targeted by Kiev’s forces. In March, it caught fire after a Ukrainian drone strike in which one person died from a suspected heart attack, local officials said.

Since January, Ukraine has launched a series of long-range drone attacks on Russian energy facilities, including oil depots and refineries.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has suggested the strikes are intended to impress Kiev’s Western supporters and compensate for a lack of progress on the front line.

US Vice President Kamala Harris privately told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to refrain from striking Russian oil refineries when they met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, the Washington Post wrote earlier this week.

The White House reportedly fears attacks on refineries inside Russia could raise global prices and provoke massive retaliation from Moscow.