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Toronto Sun
6 days ago
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Ukraine says it's ready to resume talks with Russia but needs clarity on Kremlin's terms
Published May 30, 2025 • 3 minute read Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 17, 2025. Photo by Efrem Lukatsky / AP KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine is ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, following days of uncertainty over whether Kyiv would attend a further meeting proposed by Moscow. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account But Ukrainian officials have insisted that the Kremlin provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war, before the two delegations sit down to negotiate. 'Ukraine is ready to attend the next meeting, but we want to engage in a constructive discussion,' Andrii Yermak said in a statement on the website of Ukraine's Presidential Office late Thursday. 'This means it is important to receive Russia's draft. There is enough time — four days are sufficient for preparing and sending the documents,' Yermak said. Ukraine and its European allies have repeatedly accused the Kremlin of dragging its feet in peace efforts, while it tries to press its bigger army's battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kyiv's Western partners, including the U.S., are urging Moscow to agree to an unconditional ceasefire, something Kyiv has embraced while the Kremlin has held out for terms more to its liking. Ukraine's top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, also told reporters on Friday that Kyiv is waiting for Russia to clarify its proposals ahead of a next round of talks. 'We want to end this war this year. We are interested in establishing a ceasefire, whether it is for 30 days, 50 days, or 100 days. Ukraine is open to discussing this directly with Russia,' Sybiha said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. Sybiha and Fidan also held the door open to a future meeting between Presidents Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin of Russia, possibly also including U.S. President Donald Trump. Fidan said the ongoing peace push in Istanbul could be 'crowned with' such a meeting. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday told reporters that a Russian delegation will head to Istanbul and stand ready to take part in the second round of talks on June 2. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday publicly invited Ukraine to hold direct negotiations with Moscow on that date. In a video statement, Lavrov said Russia would use Monday's meeting to deliver an outline of Moscow's position on 'reliably overcoming' what it calls the root causes of the war. Russian officials have said for weeks that such a document is forthcoming. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov on Wednesday said that Ukraine isn't opposed to further direct talks with Russia, but that they would be 'empty' if Moscow were to fail to clarify its terms. Umerov said he had personally handed a document setting out Ukraine's position to the Russian side. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Low-level delegations from Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years in Istanbul on May 16. The talks, which lasted two hours, brought no significant breakthrough, although both sides agreed to the largest prisoner exchange of the war. It was carried out last weekend and freed 1,000 captives on each side. Fidan on Friday voiced a belief that the successful swap has 'proved that negotiations can yield concrete results.' 'There are two paths in front of us. Either we will turn a blind eye to the continuation of the war, or we will reach a lasting peace within the end of the year,' he told reporters in Kyiv. — Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report. Crime Sunshine Girls World Toronto Raptors Olympics
Toronto Sun
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Kyiv comes under large-scale Russian drone and missile attack
Published May 23, 2025 • 1 minute read A Ukrainian woman holds photos of servicemen in captivity during a POWs exchange between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Friday, May 23, 2025. Photo by Efrem Lukatsky / AP KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine's capital came under a large-scale combined drone and missile attack late Friday with explosions and machine gun fire heard throughout the city. Many Kyiv residents were taking shelter in underground subway stations. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The nighttime Russian attack that stretched into early Saturday came hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange, swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the first phase of an exchange that was agreed on by the two sides at a meeting in Istanbul last week. The agreement was a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war. The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least 4 city districts of the capital, acting head of Kyiv military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on Telegram. According to Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack, two fires sparked at Solomianskyi district of Kyiv. Prior to the attack, city mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned Kyiv residents of more than 20 Russian strike drones heading towards Kyiv. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The prisoners swap Friday was the first phase of a complicated swap involving prisoners and civilians. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend that will make it the largest swap of the war. Russia's Defense Ministry said it received the same number from Ukraine. The exchange, which would be the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians at one time, didn't herald any halt in fighting. Battles also continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.
Toronto Sun
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Ukrainian official says a major prisoner swap with Russia has begun
Published May 23, 2025 • 3 minute read Family members of Ukrainian prisoners hold banners and photos of servicemen in captivity ahead of an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Friday, May 23, 2025. Photo by Efrem Lukatsky / AP CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) — A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine began Friday, a senior Ukrainian official said, in one of the few signs of progress from their direct talks last week in Istanbul — part of a U.S.-led effort that so far has failed to produce a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The swap was taking place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Moscow did not immediately confirm the exchange was underway. Ukraine and Russia agreed to the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side a week ago in Turkey in their first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion of its neighbor. That meeting lasted only two hours and brought no breakthrough in efforts to stop the fighting. Word of the developments emerged when U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had carried out a large exchange of prisoners. 'A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine,' Trump said on the Truth Social platform. He said it would 'go into effect shortly,' although it was not clear what that meant. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'This could lead to something big???' Trump added in his post, apparently referring to international diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting. White House and National Security Council officials did not immediately respond to requests for further details. After the May 16 talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a 'confidence-building measure' and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued. European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army's battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Istanbul meeting revealed both sides clearly remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement. The Kremlin has pushed back on a temporary halt to hostilities, and Putin has said any such truce must come with a freeze on Western arms supplies to Ukraine and an end to Ukraine's mobilization drive. A senior Ukrainian official said that in Istanbul, Russia had introduced new, 'unacceptable demands' to withdraw Ukrainian forces from huge swaths of territory. The official, who was not authorized to make official statements, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The proposal had not been previously discussed, the official said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Putin has long demanded as a key condition for a peace deal that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully controlled. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that if Russia continues to reject a ceasefire and make 'unrealistic demands,' it will signal deliberate efforts to prolong the war — a move that should bring tougher international sanctions. Fighting has continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes. Russia's Ministry of Defence said Friday that it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20-23. Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday. Toronto Maple Leafs Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Celebrity
Toronto Sun
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
No new direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks are scheduled: Kremlin
Published May 22, 2025 • 4 minute read Municipal workers remove the cover that protected a monument of Kyiv legendary founders from Russian missile attacks on the fourth year of Russia-Ukraine war on the country's main square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Photo by Efrem Lukatsky / AP Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow's invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations 'immediately.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 'They are yet to be agreed upon.' During two hours of talks in Istanbul on May 16, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be their biggest such swap. Apart from that step, the meeting delivered no significant breakthrough. Several months of intensified U.S. and European pressure on the two sides to accept a ceasefire and negotiate a settlement have yielded little progress. Meanwhile, Russia is readying a summer offensive to capture more Ukrainian land, Ukrainian government and military analysts say. Putin's proposals Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that Moscow would 'propose and is ready to work with' Ukraine on a 'memorandum' outlining the framework for 'a possible future peace treaty.' Putin has effectively rejected a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine has accepted. He has linked the possibility to a halt in Ukraine's mobilization effort and a freeze on Western arms shipments to Kyiv as part of a comprehensive settlement. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. European leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his bigger army's battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. The major prisoner swap is a 'quite laborious process' that 'requires some time,' Peskov said. But he added: 'The work is continuing at a quick pace, everybody is interested in doing it quickly.' Peskov told Russia's Interfax news agency that Moscow had provided Kyiv with a list of prisoners it wants released. 'We have not yet received a counter list from Kyiv. We are waiting,' he told Interfax. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that preparations are underway for the potential prisoner exchange, which he described as 'perhaps the only real result' of the talks in Turkey. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Peskov disputed a report Thursday in The Wall Street Journal that Trump told European leaders after his phone call with Putin on Monday that the Russian leader wasn't interested in talks because he thinks that Moscow is winning. 'We know what Trump told Putin, we don't know what Trump told the Europeans. We know President Trump's official statement,' Peskov said. 'What we know contrasts with what was written in the article you mentioned.' Russian capital targeted by drones for the second night Apart from the continuing war of attrition along the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line, which has killed tens of thousands of troops on both sides, Russia and Ukraine have been firing dozens of long-range drones at each other's territory almost daily. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Russia's Defence Ministry said it shot down 105 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 35 over the Moscow region. It was the second straight night that Kyiv's forces have targeted the Russian capital. More than 160 flights were delayed at three of Moscow's four main airports, the city's transport prosecutor said, as officials grounded planes citing concerns for passenger safety. The attack prompted some regions to turn off mobile internet signals, including the Oryol region southwest of Moscow, which was targeted heavily Wednesday. The Defence Ministry claimed it downed 485 Ukrainian drones over several regions and the Black Sea between late Tuesday and early Thursday, including 63 over the Moscow region, in one of the biggest drone attacks. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It was not possible to verify the numbers. Russia seeks a buffer zone on the border Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 128 drones overnight. Among the targets were Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, damaging an industrial facility, power lines, and several private homes, regional Gov. Serhii Lysak said on Telegram. In Kyiv, debris from a Russian drone fell onto the grounds of a school in the capital's Darnytskyi district, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. No injuries were reported. Ukrainian shelling in Russia's Kursk region killed a 50-year-old man and injured two others, acting regional Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said Thursday. Putin visited the Kursk region on Tuesday for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month. Kyiv officials denied the claim. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Despite the liberation of our territory, the border region is still subject to enemy attacks,' Khinshtein warned residents on Telegram. 'It is still dangerous to be there.' Putin has said Russian forces have orders to create a 'security buffer zone' along the border. That would help prevent Ukraine from striking areas inside Russia with artillery, Putin told a government meeting, but he gave no details of where the proposed buffer zone would be or how far it would stretch. Putin said a year ago that a Russian offensive at the time aimed to create a buffer zone in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. That could have helped protect Russia's Belgorod border region, where frequent Ukrainian attacks have embarrassed the Kremlin. Columnists Sunshine Girls Basketball Columnists Sunshine Girls
Toronto Sun
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Slow progress, no major breakthroughs dampen hopes for Russia-Ukraine peace deal
Published May 20, 2025 • 2 minute read Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, May 19, 2025. Photo by Efrem Lukatsky / AP KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's phone calls with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine deepened expectations that progress might soon be made on ending those countries' more than three-year war, though frustration at the slow pace of negotiations and the absence of any significant breakthrough kept hopes low. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time to continue the war and occupation,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday on Telegram. 'We are working with partners to put pressure on the Russians to behave differently,' he added in an apparent reference to further international sanctions on Russia. Ukraine has offered a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire, which Moscow has effectively rejected by imposing far-reaching conditions, and Zelenskyy proposed a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin but the Russian leader spurned that offer. Trump said his personal intervention was needed to push peace efforts forward, and on Monday he held separate talks over the phone with Zelenskyy and Putin. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Russia and Ukraine will 'immediately' begin ceasefire negotiations, Trump announced, though there was no detail on when or where such talks might take place. 'The status quo has not changed,' Mykhailo Podoliak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, wrote on the social platform X on Tuesday. U.S. officials have for the past few months urged Russia and Ukraine to reach a settlement, as Trump sought a swift end to Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. Trump said his talks with Putin on Monday were 'excellent,' but European officials were skeptical about Russia's intentions. 'Putin has never changed his position,' Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said in Brussels on Tuesday. 'Russia actually doesn't want to end this war.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Russia's failure to negotiate in good faith should trigger threatened U.S. sanctions. 'We really haven't seen, you know, the pressure on Russia from these talks,' she told reporters. Also, some were unconvinced by Putin's promise to Trump that Russia is 'ready to work with' Ukraine on a 'memorandum' outlining the framework for 'a possible future peace treaty.' 'It appears that Putin has devised a way to offer Trump an interim, tangible outcome from Washington's peace efforts without making any real concessions,' Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said on X. The warring countries are insisting on apparently irreconcilable conditions for peace, and even a temporary truce has been out of reach. The first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion ended after less than two hours last Friday, and while both sides agreed on a large prisoner swap, they clearly remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting.
