Ukraine accuses Russia of undermining next round of peace talks 5 hours ago Jaroslav Lukiv & Rachel Hagan BBC News Ukraine’s president has questioned Russia’s commitment to progressing peace talks after Moscow confirmed it was sending a team to talks in Istanbul on Monday.
The first round of talks two weeks ago in Istanbul brought no breakthrough, but achieved a prisoner of war swap.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
As the talks approached, both Russia and Ukraine reported explosions on Friday night and in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“We sincerely think it is time to bring President Trump, President Putin and President Zelensky to the table,” he said.
Russia is accused by Ukraine of sabotaging the upcoming peace negotiations.
Five hours ago.
Lukiv Jaroslav and Hagan, Rachel.
the BBC News.
After Moscow announced it was sending a team to peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, Ukraine’s president has questioned Russia’s commitment to advancing the negotiations.
Russia has not yet sent Ukraine its negotiating proposals, which is one of Kyiv’s main demands. Russia’s demands for a ceasefire will be discussed in Turkey, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Moscow, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, is “doing everything it can to ensure the next possible meeting is fruitless.”.
“A meeting needs a clear agenda and well-prepared negotiations to be meaningful,” he stated. The Ukrainian government reiterated its “readiness for a full and unconditional ceasefire” in its proposals to Russia.
While there was no breakthrough during the first round of negotiations in Istanbul two weeks ago, a prisoner of war swap was accomplished.
In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Approximately 20% of Ukraine’s land is currently under Russian control, including the southern Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Both Russia and Ukraine reported Friday night and early Saturday morning explosions as the negotiations drew near.
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the military administration in the Kherson region of Ukraine, said three people were killed and ten others were injured.
He claimed on social media that “residential areas of settlements in the region” and “critical and social infrastructure” were struck by the Russian military.
According to the Sumy region’s administration, one person was also killed there.
Eleven settlements in the area were ordered to evacuate, making 213 settlements evacuated overall.
At least one person was also hurt in explosions in the cities of Izyum and Kharkiv, according to officials.
The acting local governor, Alexander Khinshtein, and Russia’s state-run news agency, TASS, reported that an explosion in the Kursk region of Russia injured at least 14 people.
In order to open the door for more extensive talks, Moscow “must accept an unconditional ceasefire,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reaffirmed Friday that Kyiv had already sent its own “vision of future steps” to Russia.
At a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Sybiha stated, “We want the war to end this year, so we are interested in seeing these meetings continue.”.
The discussions on Monday are not anticipated to include Putin or Zelensky.
However, Fidan stated that Turkey hoped to host a high-level summit in the future.
“We genuinely believe that it is time to bring President Zelensky, President Trump, and President Putin to the table,” he stated.
Peskov stated that Moscow would only consider the possibility of a high-level summit if significant progress was made in initial talks between the two nations and that Russia’s ceasefire proposals would not be made public.
Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, was praised for his remarks characterizing Russian concerns about NATO expansion as “fair.”.
Despite Kyiv’s long-held hopes, Gen. Kellogg stated that Ukraine would not be joining the military alliance.
Although he emphasized the importance of continuing talks, he added that President Trump was “frustrated” by what he called Russia’s intransigence.
Trump and Putin spoke over the phone for two hours on May 19 to discuss a ceasefire agreement that the US had proposed to stop the fighting.
“I think the call went very well,” the US president said, adding that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start” talks to reach a ceasefire and “an end to the war.”.
A 30-day ceasefire has been publicly accepted by Ukraine, but Putin has only stated that Russia will collaborate with Ukraine to draft a “memorandum” on a “possible future peace”—a move that Kyiv and its European allies have characterized as a means of postponing the annexation of more Ukrainian territory by Russian forces.
A few days later, Trump referred to Putin as “absolutely crazy” and threatened US sanctions in a rare rebuke. His remarks came after Moscow launched its biggest missile and drone assaults on Ukraine.
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, assured Zelensky on Wednesday that Berlin would assist Kyiv in developing long-range missiles to protect itself against Russian attacks in the future.
Any move to remove range limitations on the missiles Ukraine could use, according to the Kremlin, would be a risky shift in strategy that would undermine attempts to end the conflict.
