Ukraine wants to see a document that establishes Russia’s proposals for a peace agreement before sending a delegation to Istanbul for bilateral conversations, said Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha.
Russia has proposed that the negotiators of the two parties meet in Istanbul on June 2, but kyiv has said that it needs guarantees that Moscow is sincere about wanting to end the war.
Russia, who launched a large -scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, made the proposal after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Moscow and kyiv to work together in a peace agreement.
The expectations for conversations are modest because the positions are so far by the two parties are very separate and the work between them has not yet seriously begun by reducing the gap.
At a joint press conference in kyiv on Friday with the visitor Minister of Turkish Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, Sybiha did not confirm that Ukraine would participate in the Istanbul conversations.
“So that the next planned meeting is substantive and significant, it is important to receive a document in advance so that the delegation to which the authority will have to discuss the relevant positions,” said Sybiha.
He said that, to date, Ukraine had not received the memorandum he expected from the Russian negotiators containing their proposals for the discussion in Istanbul.
Sybiha did not explain what kyiv would do if he did not receive the Russian document, or establish a deadline to receive it.
“We want to finish this war this year, and we are interested in establishing a truce, either for 30 days, or for 50 days or for 100 days,” said Sybiha.
“Ukraine is open to discuss this directly with Russia. We confirm this during the last meeting of our delegations with the Russian side.”
In statements to the US Network ABC, Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg indicated that he expected the bilateral conversations of June 2 in Istanbul to continue.
Both kyiv and Moscow are eager to demonstrate to Trump that they are on board with their efforts to end the conflict. Kyiv is looking for more American military aid, while Moscow hopes that economic sanctions on Russia relieve.
Russia has said that his delegation in Istanbul’s conversations will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin assistant who directed the Russian team for an earlier round of conversations in the Turkish city on May 16. Those conversations did not produce any advance.
Fidan de Türkiye, who earlier this week visited Moscow, said Friday that his country was ready to organize another round of conversations between Russia and Ukraine.
“This is our opinion: while (the sides) remain at the negotiating table, you can surely see progress,” he told the press conference.
If the conversations continue in Istanbul, the next step would be to try to organize a meeting between Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he added.
