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Ukraine and Russia will maintain their first direct peace talks in three years on Friday, assembly in Istanbul for discussions brokered by the US and Turkey amid a world push for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.
However expectations for progress remained low, with Kyiv and Moscow nonetheless far aside on key situations for ending Russia’s years-long battle and the deadliest battle in Europe because the second world battle. President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that “nothing goes to occur” on a Russia-Ukraine peace deal till he and Vladimir Putin meet, dashing hopes down for outcomes from the talks.
Earlier peace talks in Istanbul broke down within the spring of 2022, after Kyiv uncovered the atrocities carried out by Moscow’s forces in Bucha and different areas of Ukraine that had been occupied by Russia within the first weeks of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine’s delegation, led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, was as a result of meet a lower-ranking Russian crew headed by presidential aide and former tradition minister Vladimir Medinsky at 12:30 native time in Istanbul. The talks observe a strained begin to the most recent diplomatic push, after Putin declined to fulfill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nose to nose.
However a potential assembly between Zelenskyy and Putin might be on the agenda of the Ukrainian delegation, a Ukrainian diplomat in Istanbul stated.
Zelenskyy on Thursday met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara. The Ukrainian chief dismissed the Russian delegation as “stand-in props”, questioning the seniority of its members and “whether or not they could make any selections”.
Nonetheless, Zelenskyy stated a ceasefire could possibly be reached if Kyiv and Moscow negotiators on Friday may discover some frequent floor.
The Ukrainian official in Istanbul stated the Kyiv crew was “able to work . . . to attain tangible outcomes”.
“The query is whether or not the Russian facet is prepared for actual steps in direction of peace. Up to now, Russia has obstructed each constructive effort made by Ukraine.”
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of workers, stated he and Umerov, together with different Ukrainian officers, met US particular envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and UK nationwide safety adviser Jonathan Powell to co-ordinate positions forward of the assembly with the Russian delegation. US secretary of state Marco Rubio was additionally in Istanbul on Friday and met along with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha, in addition to French and German diplomatic advisers.
“Ukraine is prepared for peace and for a long-lasting, unconditional ceasefire. We’re additionally ready for conferences and negotiations on the highest degree,” Yermak stated.
Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, stated late on Thursday that his crew was “able to work” after holding preliminary talks with Turkish officers.
Medinsky, who additionally led Moscow’s delegation on the final direct talks in Istanbul in early 2022, described his negotiating crew as versatile and set to be “constructive”, however different officers have urged Russia wouldn’t again down from its maximalist calls for.
Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and skilled negotiator, additionally represented Kyiv within the first Istanbul talks three years in the past and has been part of backchannel talks with the Russians on humanitarian issues and prisoner exchanges.
Senior Turkish officers had been set to affix the Russia-Ukraine talks.
The American envoys weren’t anticipated to fulfill the Russian delegation.
In the meantime, in Kyiv, sirens blared earlier than daybreak as Russia launched one other missile and drone assault on the Ukrainian capital and different cities. Ukraine’s air pressure reported that considered one of its F-16 fighter jets had been misplaced whereas “finishing up a mission to repel an enemy air assault”.
Senior Ukrainian officers informed the Monetary Occasions earlier within the week that Russia seemed to be gearing up for a bigger offensive, shifting forces from Kursk and elsewhere to strategic hotspots on the battlefield, fairly than signalling a readiness for peace talks.
Deep State, a Ukrainian analytical group near the defence ministry, reported in latest days that Russian armed forces had seized extra floor within the japanese Donetsk area, notably across the flashpoint cities of Pokrovsk, Toretsk and Chasiv Yar. The Russians have elevated the tempo of their offensive and the quantity of territory captured in every of the previous three months.
Ukraine has managed to stop a serious breakthrough alongside the 1,000km frontline however it has struggled to halt the Russians’ grinding advance. Kyiv is prone to face growing issue because it grapples with a problematic mobilisation marketing campaign and US-supplied arms and ammunition run low.
