Ukraine awaiting Russia peace proposal ahead of Istanbul talks

BBC News

a day ago

Russia says it will send a delegation to Istanbul on Monday for a second round of peace talks with Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow's conditions for a temporary truce were being developed and would be discussed in Turkey.Ukraine has said it remains committed to dialogue but will not send a delegation until it receives details of Russia's ceasefire proposal. The first round of talks between low-level Russian and Ukrainian delegations took place earlier this month, resulting in both sides returning hundreds of prisoners in the biggest exchange since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine had already sent its own "vision of future steps" to Russia, adding that Moscow "must accept an unconditional ceasefire" to pave the way for broader negotiations."We are interested in seeing these meetings continue because we want the war to end this year," Sybiha said during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Friday. If the talks do go ahead on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are not expected to attend.But Fidan said Turkey was hoping to eventually host a high-level summit: "We sincerely think it is time to bring President Trump, President Putin and President Zelensky to the table."Peskov said Russia would only entertain the idea of a high-level summit if meaningful progress was achieved in preliminary discussions between the two countries.He welcomed comments made by Trump's envoy to Ukraine, retired Gen Keith Kellogg, who described Russian concerns over Nato enlargement as "fair". Gen Kellogg said Ukraine joining the military alliance, long-hoped for by Kyiv, was not on the table.He added that President Trump was "frustrated" by what he described as Russia's intransigence, but emphasised the need to keep negotiations alive.On Wednesday, Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told Ukraine's Zelensky that Berlin would help Kyiv produce long-range missiles to defend itself from future Russian attacks.The Kremlin said any decision to end range restrictions on the missiles Ukraine could use would represent a dangerous change in policy that would harm efforts to bring an end to the war.Moscow currently controls 20% of Ukraine's internationally-recognised territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.