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Tokayev urges a freeze
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Vladimir Putin during a Russia-Kazakhstan forum in Omsk that “perhaps it is time to freeze this conflict and return to the Istanbul formula 2.0,” as he said “it is a shame, young people are dying.”
“20 Minutes with AFP Published on 25/07/2026 at 17:42 That must be quite a shock to Vladimir Putin, no doubt unused to such comments from his advisers”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha responded that the message was “a realistic, timely, and wise message,” and said Ukraine “appreciated” Tokayev after he suggested to his Russian counterpart to freeze the war and revive what he called the “Istanbul 2.0” format.
Tokayev also said Kazakhstan has always respected the Ukrainian people, their language and culture, and argued the nature of the war is “not entirely clear to many, including us.”
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later rejected the proposal, saying “Tokayev has repeatedly spoken about the issue of Ukraine,” while adding that “But Kazakhstan is our closest partner and our closest ally.”
Kremlin rejects, Ukraine counters
Tokayev’s call for a freeze came as he praised Putin’s “utmost diplomatic flexibility” and referred to Putin’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage in August 2025, saying “I know that you demonstrated the utmost diplomatic flexibility during the meeting in Anchorage.”
In a post on X, Sybiha wrote, “We appreciate President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev telling Putin it is time to stop the war,” and added that “the Kremlin continues to reject this clear path to peace.”
Peskov rejected the freeze idea, telling reporters that “Tokayev has repeatedly spoken about the issue of Ukraine,” and said the Kremlin would “continue to do so with twice the energy” to explain what it called the root causes.
The Kyiv Independent described Tokayev’s remarks as a rare public call from one of Russia’s closest regional partners, while quoting Peskov’s rebuttal that “a freeze as such is impossible.”
War context and wider stakes
The same weekend’s diplomacy unfolded alongside reports of fresh strikes, with France 24 saying Ukrainian drones struck a Siberian oil refinery hours before Tokayev spoke in Omsk and that Russian authorities said a Ukrainian strike killed 12 people at a seaside “tourist camp” in Kyrylivka.
“Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, July 25, that the fighting in Ukraine must be 'stopped', calling for a 'freeze' of the conflict, in a rare face-to-face comment to the Russian leader”
France 24 also reported that Kyiv said a Russian strike on Sumy killed three people at a site belonging to Nova Poshta, while Kyiv’s transport minister Mykola Kalashnyk said Russia had twice hit a civilian vessel carrying almost 2,800 tons of corn as it left the port of Odesa, with the ship catching fire and “two other crew members were missing.”
Al Jazeera linked the war to Kazakhstan’s energy disruptions, saying drones “slow Kazakh oil flow” and that the CPC “temporarily suspended” oil shipments, with the Kazakh Energy Ministry saying shipments would only renew after “the situation is normalised.”
Al Jazeera quoted regional expert Daniil Kislov warning that the disruption was “a direct strike on the economy and budget,” as it described Kazakhstan’s oil exports as at risk and noted that EU member states depend on Kazakh crude, including Romania getting more than 60 percent of its crude from Kazakhstan.
