Ukraine, Russia to resume peace negotiations hosted by Turkey
July 22 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a third round of direct peace talks with Russia will be held in Turkey on Wednesday in tandem with another prisoner swap.
Zelensky made the announcement in his nightly address following a meeting with National Security Secretary Rustem Umerov on "preparations for a prisoner exchange and another meeting in Turkey."
The Ukrainian negotiation team will be headed by Umerov along with representatives of Ukrainian intelligence, the foreign ministry and the Office of the President, Zelensky said in a post on X.
"Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to secure the release of our people from captivity and return of abducted children, to stop the killings, and to prepare a leaders' meeting aimed at truly bringing this war to an end.
"Our position is fully transparent. Ukraine never wanted this war, and it is Russia that must end the war that it started," Zelensky said.
Previous rounds hosted by Turkey in May and June this year broke up without any breakthrough but did deliver progress on humanitarian issues, including large-scale exchanges of the two sides' respective prisoners-of-war.
Moscow immediately sought to downplay expectations for the talks, saying it was unlikely to sign onto any "miraculous" peace deal proposal.
"There is no reason to expect any breakthroughs in the category of miracles -- it is hardly possible in the current situation," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"We intend to pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfil the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning."
The gap between the two sides does remain as large as ever, with neither side moving on from their demands set out at the last meeting on June 2, which lasted barely an hour.
In Russia's case, that includes the withdrawal of all Ukrainian forces from four provinces -- Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- "annexed" by Russia in 2022 and international recognition of those territories, as well as Crimea, as Russian.
Ukraine wants a cease-fire to allow further negotiations toward a permanent end to the conflict as well as exchanges of all POWs and return of abducted children and all Ukrainian civilians being held by Russia.
Russia has been doubling up on a summer offensive that threatens to penetrate the Ukrainian defensive line along a 620-mile front by ramping up its nightly air raids on Ukrainian towns and cities.
At least three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed and 17 were injured in Donetsk overnight in the latest drone, guided-bomb and missile strikes. Six other provinces were also targeted in attacks that injured another 28 people.
The growing death toll and ferocity of Russia's renewed airborne campaign prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to issue Moscow on July 14 with a 50-day ultimatum to agree a peace deal or face "very severe" economic sanctions.
He also pledged to get more defensive weapons systems to Ukraine "within days," via the United States' NATO partners in Europe.
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