Ukraine yesterday said it was ready to take “necessary steps for peace” at talks with Russia in Istanbul, where the two sides were to exchange plans on how they want to end the three-year war, Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.
Urged on by US President Donald Trump, Moscow and Kyiv have opened direct negotiations for the first time since the early weeks of Russia’s invasion, but have yet to make significant progress towards an elusive agreement.
Yesterday’s talks come a day after Ukraine carried out one of its most brazen and successful attacks ever on Russian soil — hitting dozens of strategic bombers parked at airbases thousands of kilometers behind the front line.
Photo: Reuters / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
A first round of talks in Istanbul last month yielded a large-scale prisoner exchange, but no pause in the fighting, which has raged since Russia invaded in February 2022.
The second round was scheduled to get underway at 10am GMT at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan was to mediate the talks.
“We are ready to take the necessary steps for peace,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at a summit of NATO members in Vilnius ahead of the talks.
A source in the negotiating team urged Russia to avoid repeating its previous hardline demands and show “flexibility.”
“If they are ready to move forward, not just repeat the same previous ultimatums, then there may be good and big news today,” the source said.
Moscow said it would present a “memorandum” of its peace terms, having resisted pressure by Ukraine to send its demands in advance.
Despite the flurry of diplomacy, the two sides remain far apart.
Zelensky on Sunday refreshed his call for an immediate halt to the fighting, something Kyiv says is a necessary first step to discussions of long-term peace.
“First — a full and unconditional ceasefire. Second — the release of prisoners. Third — the return of abducted children,” he said in a social media post on Sunday.
He also called for the sides to discuss a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The key issues can only be resolved by the leaders,” Zelenskiy said.
After months of setbacks for Kyiv’s military, Ukraine said it had carried out an audacious attack on Sunday, damaging about 40 strategic Russian bombers worth US$7 billion in a major special operation.
Kyiv’s security service said the plan, 18 months in the making, had involved smuggling drones into Russia, then launching them from near the airbases, thousands of kilometers away from the front lines.
For months, Russian troops have been advancing on the ground, particularly in the northeastern Sumy region, where Putin ordered his forces to establish a “buffer zone” along the border.
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