Ukraine's Zelensky offers Russia more talks next week
Photo:
JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Kyiv has sent Moscow an offer to hold another round of peace talks next week, and that he wanted to speed up negotiations for a ceasefire.
Ukraine and Russia have held two rounds of talks in Istanbul over the past five months. They have
agreed to swap prisoners
but made no breakthroughs ending almost three-and-a-half years of conflict that started with Russia's 2022 invasion.
"Everything should be done to achieve a ceasefire," Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation on Saturday (local time).
"The Russian side should stop hiding from decisions," he added.
The president said Rustem Umerov, who headed the Ukrainian delegation at both talks in Istanbul, had sent the Russian side the offer to hold the meeting next week, but gave no more details.
Umerov, a former defence minister, was appointed last week as the head of the National Security and Defence Council and tasked with adding more momentum to the negotiations.
Russia has been
pressing a grinding offensive
along the eastern front in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
It has repeatedly said it is ready for a new round of talks but has not backed down from what Kyiv and its allies describe as its maximalist war aims.
US President Donald Trump, who has sharpened his tone against Russia in recent weeks amid worsening air strikes on Ukrainian cities, threatened harsher sanctions on Russia earlier this month if a peace deal was not reached within 50 days.
- Reuters
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