Russia is doing everything to make next meeting in Istanbul fruitless - Zelenskyy
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
To ensure that the next meeting between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul is not a waste of time, it is necessary to understand its agenda and properly prepare for the negotiations. However, the Russian Federation is doing everything to make this meeting fruitless, according to the Telegram channel of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Today, on May 30, Zelenskyy held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, Hakan Fidan.
"I thanked Türkiye and President Erdoğan for supporting our efforts toward a just and lasting peace. In particular, for their help in organizing the meeting after which we managed to free a thousand of our people from Russian captivity. The return of all Ukrainians held by Russia is one of our priorities," the Head of State said.
Zelenskyy and Fidan also discussed the diplomatic efforts of Ukraine, Türkiye, and other partners.
The President emphasized that the Russian Federation ignores all calls from the world to cease fire and continues killing. Moreover, the Russians have been unable to present the so-called memorandum they promised to prepare immediately after the 1000 for 1000 exchange for more than a week now.
"Ukraine has not received any documents from them. Neither has Türkiye. For the meeting to be meaningful, it is necessary to understand its agenda and properly prepare for the negotiations. Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything to make the next possible meeting fruitless," Zelenskyy noted.
Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Istanbul
On May 16, the first round of talks between representatives of Ukraine and Russia took place in Türkiye, during which possible ways to end the war were discussed.
Following the negotiations, the delegations agreed to prepare written proposals regarding the conditions for a possible ceasefire. However, Russia is delaying the submission of its memorandum.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Russia is doing everything to prolong the war and sabotage the negotiations, which is why it is delaying the delivery of the document.
At the same time, recently, Russia proposed to hold a second round of negotiations on June 2 in Istanbul.
Ukraine is ready for further negotiations with Russia, but wants to receive the so-called memorandum regarding a possible ceasefire from Moscow before the meeting.
In particular, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiga stated that Russia must provide Ukraine with the memorandum before the second round of negotiations so that the upcoming meeting of the delegations would be substantive and meaningful.
