 "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L). AP")
Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, both nations are gearing up for a second round of peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey. Ukraine has maintained that it will participate in the talks, scheduled on Monday, only if the Kremlin produces its promised memorandum of terms for an agreement.
The first round of negotiations between the two warring countries took place on May 16 in Istanbul, during which Russia and Ukraine agreed to prepare memoranda detailing their conditions for peace. On Wednesday evening, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed a second round of talks on June 2.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the delegation in the first round, maintained that the talks are possible only if Russia sends its terms of peace before June 2. The condition from Umerov came after Lavrov said that the Russian side would present its terms during the second round of talks in Istanbul.
Ukraine demands promptness
In response to Lavrov’s assertion, Umrov said that the Ukrainian side has sent its terms to the Kremlin and expects the same kind of promptness from Moscow.
“We are not opposed to further meetings with the Russians and are awaiting their ‘memorandum’ so that the meeting won’t be empty and can truly move us closer to ending the war,” Umerov said in a post on Facebook. “The Russian side has at least four more days before their departure to provide us with their document for review," he added.
It is pertinent to note that Ukraine has repeatedly said that it would agree to an unconditional ceasefire. However, Russia has lengthy discussions addressing what it calls the “root causes” before any cessation of hostilities. The latest proposal from Moscow came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that US President Donald Trump told him during their meeting at the Vatican that the US is ready to impose new sanctions on Russia if Moscow doesn’t agree to a ceasefire.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“President Trump supported that if Russia does not stop, there will be sanctions,” Zelenskyy told journalists in a press briefing on Tuesday. “Our conversation was positive from the point of view that I perceive our conversation as a confirmation of the US policy of imposing strong sanctions against Russia if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire," he added.
Meanwhile, top Putin aide Yuri Ushakov retorted in a TV interview Tuesday that “we have come to the conclusion that Trump is not sufficiently informed about what is really happening in the context of the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation,” insisting that the Russian strikes were only against military targets and infrastructure. Hence, it will be interesting to see how the second round of talks will pan out.