Zelenskyy on Russian memo: 'We'll read their proposals and give them a definite answer'
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (president.gov.ua)
Russia is preparing a memorandum to describe its vision of the next steps in the war settlement and whether it is ready for a ceasefire. Ukraine will respond to the memorandum after reading it, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on May 27.
As the head of state emphasized, Ukraine supported an unconditional ceasefire and the shift to diplomacy in any format and composition, and is ready to meet directly with Russia or through mediation almost anywhere in the civilized world.
Zelenskyy added that at the talks in Istanbul, Russia had set appropriate conditions, and the parties agreed to exchange a thousand people. But, as the president noted, “Russia was not ready for other steps in the agenda of the Istanbul meeting,” including a ceasefire.
“And they said that they were not ready for it so easily. They said they would come back with some signals. The United States also shared the same message with us. The Turkish side recorded the same thing during the relevant meetings. All this happened during the two days of Turkish negotiations. On our side, there was Defense Minister Umerov, who was in contact with Mr. Medinsky on the Russian side. Russia said: “We will give you something called a memorandum,” the president explained.
According to Zelenskyy, in the memorandum, Russia should convey what it sees as the next steps, whether it is able to support a ceasefire and a meeting at the level of state leaders.
“We'll read their proposals and give them a definite answer. That's all. There is nothing to add,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia's memorandum on the ceasefire
After the talks in Istanbul on May 16, Russia said that the parties had agreed to present their vision of a possible ceasefire in writing.
Later, Russian president Vladimir Putin, after speaking with US president Donald, said that Russia would propose a memorandum on a possible future peace treaty.
The Russian foreign ministry said that the memorandum would specify possible timing for ending the war. On May 24, Russia also claimed that they were already finalizing the document.
Ukraine's President's Office believes that Russia may include unacceptable conditions in the memorandum, including a complete loss of sovereignty for Ukraine.
