Russia and Ukraine swap fire as they head to Istanbul peace talks

Al Jazeera

2 days ago

Russia and Ukraine continued to launch air strikes overnight as they prepared to meet for a second round of direct peace talks in Turkiye.
The Ukrainian delegation arrived in Istanbul on Monday, despite recent rhetoric from Kyiv suggesting it may not take part in the follow-up to the first round of talks between the adversaries last month, at which little progress was made towards a ceasefire in the war, started by Russia as it invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
The Russian negotiators also announced they had arrived in the Turkish city, where Kyiv and Moscow – under pressure from the United States – are expected to present respective memorandums on peace terms.
The first round of talks ended with just a prisoner swap agreed, with Ukraine complaining that Russia continues to make unacceptable and unrealistic demands.
Russia has resisted pressure to send its memorandum to Kyiv in advance. However, presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, Moscow's lead negotiator, was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying the Kremlin had received Ukraine's proposal.
Kyiv, according to the Reuters news agency, has proposed a roadmap for lasting peace, with no restrictions on its military strength nor international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine, conditions that Moscow has sought to insist upon.
As the delegations arrived in Turkiye, Ukrainian officials were busy coordinating with European allies, who are seeking to raise support for Kyiv amid uncertainty over the commitment of the US under President Donald Trump.
Ahead of the meeting with their Russian counterparts, the Ukrainian delegation met with representatives from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Around the same time, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius for a summit with the leaders of NATO's eastern and Nordic members, who are some of Kyiv's staunchest backers amid the Russian invasion.
'If Ukraine is not present at the NATO summit, it will be a victory for Putin, but not over Ukraine, but over NATO,' he said last week.
Zelensky wants the Western military alliance to offer security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace deal, something Moscow has called 'unacceptable.'
Zelenskyy had reiterated calls for a 'full and unconditional ceasefire' before the talks.
'Second – the release of prisoners. Third – the return of abducted children,' he said in a post on social media.
Zelenskyy also called for a direct meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has previously said such a meeting could take place only after the delegations reach wider 'agreements'.
Russia continues to demand that a ceasefire agreement must address the 'root causes' of the conflict. It has persistently referred to limiting Ukraine's military capabilities, banning Ukraine from joining NATO and agreeing to territorial concessions.
As the delegations arrived in Istanbul, both countries reported bombardments from massive overnight attacks.
Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Monday that its air defence units had 'intercepted and destroyed' 162 Ukrainian drones, the majority of which were over the bordering regions, including 57 intercepted over the Kursk region and 31 over the Belgorod region.
A day earlier, Ukraine carried out one of its biggest and most successful attacks on Russian soil, hitting dozens of strategic bombers in Siberia and other military bases in the country.
Ukraine, meanwhile, reported that Russia had targeted its territory with 80 drones overnight, striking 12 targets.
The governor of Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin, wrote on Telegram that artillery fire had killed a 40-year-old man in the Korabelny district.
A five-year-old child was also injured in the attack in Kherson and was undergoing medical supervision, he added.