MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. Moscow sees a complete unwillingness on the part of Kiev to continue talks, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"The talks are indeed not progressing. And we do state a complete lack of desire on the part of Ukrainian negotiators to continue this process," he said.

In reply to a question about whether talks could resume after the capitulation of all the militants on the territory of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the spokesman noted, "I do not think that these are strongly interrelated processes."

Earlier, a member of the Russian delegation, Leonid Slutsky, said that the talks between Russia and Ukraine, which began at Kiev's request, stagnated and are now not being conducted in any format, with the United States making a significant "contribution" to this.