Russian-Ukraine talks in Istanbul: Kiev said ready for dialogue, but set on peace terms

Russia and Ukraine are ready for a new phase of direct peace talks in Istanbul next Monday, amidst increasing doubts about international pressure and Moscow’s intentions.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavarov informed US State Secretary Marco Rubio during a phone call that Moscow was finalizing his proposals for the meeting. “Our delegation, led by Vladimir Medinski, is ready to submit a memorandum to the Ukrainian delegation and offers the necessary explanation during a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, 2 June,” Lavrov said in a video statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs.While the Kiev is open to the conversation, it is demanding that Russia present its peace conditions to avoid another fruitless encounter. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustom Umrov said, “We are not opposing further meetings with the Russians and waiting for our memorandum.” “The Russian side has at least four days before their departure to provide us with their documents for reviews. Diplomacy must be important, and the next meeting should achieve results.”The last round of face-to-face talks held in Istanbul on 16 May was the first such meeting in three years, but ended without any success.Ukraine claims that it has already presented its peace demands and insists that any conversation should be based on mutual clarity and severity. Meanwhile, Russia carried forward its terms, including the demand to renounce their dialect to join NATO and CAD Territory for Kiev, currently under Russian control, a proposal considers a proposal Ukraine unacceptable.In recent times, tension has been increasing in the battlefield, the response to confusing in fatal attacks with Ukraine and Moscow.US President Donald Trump, who is trying to broke a peace agreement, expressed growing disappointment with Russia’s actions. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said he was “very disappointed” with Russia’s continuous bombing during the ongoing conversation. “If I think I am close to getting a deal, I don’t want to spoil it from doing it,” Trump said, rejecting the call for hard restrictions on Moscow.Despite the increased diplomacy, Russia along with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelanski for the tripartite summit, saying that such a meeting could only be held after reaching concrete agreements in talks.Speaking at a press conference in Berlin with Zelansky, German Chancellor Frederick Merz, Russia was deliberately accused of taking out the peace process. “They will seek reasons for not constantly ending the war,” he said.He also warned of a fresh military buildup, claiming that Moscow was collecting more than 50,000 soldiers near Sumi region on the North East border of Ukraine. Russian forces have allegedly seized several settlements in the region, the aim that Putin has described as a “buffer zone” inside the Ukrainian region.War, now in its third year, has claimed tens of thousands of people and destroyed many of the eastern and southern Ukraine. Russia currently controls around the fifth region of the region of Ukraine, including Crimea, which was brought back in 2014.