The Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed to meet again.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote about this, but did not specify either the date or location of the new meeting.
According to him, the Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Istanbul on May 16 were “an important day for peace in the world”. Their result was an agreement on a prisoner exchange in the “1 000 for 1 000” format.
"The parties also agreed to share in writing with the opposing side the conditions that could make it possible to achieve a ceasefire," added the Turkish Foreign Minister, who chaired the meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegates.
And he assured that Turkey will continue to "make every effort to achieve lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine".
What preceded
On May 16, the first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia since 2022 were held in Istanbul. The meeting lasted a little over an hour and, according to media reports, did not produce any significant results. According to journalists, Russia demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from a number of territories to ensure a ceasefire. At the meeting, the parties also discussed a prisoner exchange in the format of "1 000 for 1 000".
As The Economist correspondent Oliver Carroll reports, citing “well-informed sources”, the head of the Russian delegation, Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky, threatened during the talks that Russia was ready to wage war forever and would only agree to a ceasefire if Ukraine fully withdrew its troops from four regions partially occupied by Russians. He also threatened to occupy Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
At the beginning of the war, delegations of Ukraine and Russia had already met in Istanbul, but in the spring of 2022, such meetings stopped. Based on the “Istanbul Communiqué”, the parties concluded a major agreement. One of its drafts, dated April 15, is publicly available — it was published by the American newspaper The New York Times. From this draft, it is clear that Russia offered Ukraine to agree to worthless, meaningless guarantees. The Russian side reserved the right to block any military assistance and at the same time demanded that Ukraine limit the size of the Defense Forces. In essence, Putin offered Zelensky to surrender — just in a more veiled form.
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