ASTANA, July 4. /TASS/. Russia can’t agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine as Moscow is not sure how Kiev would respond, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters as he wrapped up his trip to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana.

Putin said that agreements were reached in 2022 to withdraw Russian troops from Kiev, but there was no response from Ukraine. According to the Russian president, the West explained that Kiev "can’t control all its armed formations because some of them allegedly do not obey the central government."

Putin said that Moscow ultimately "faced deception again as all agreements [involving the troops withdrawal], which had been reached in Istanbul, were thrown in the trash."

"And this has happened repeatedly," he continued.

"That is why we simply can’t announce a ceasefire now in the hope that the other side will take some positive steps," the president said. "We can’t allow the enemy to use this ceasefire to improve its situation, to arm itself, to reconstitute its army through forced mobilization and to be ready to continue the armed conflict."