Ukraine wants to retry direct peace talks with Russia, but with a condition

Ukraine has again signalled its willingness to retry direct peace talks with Russia at Istanbul on Monday, a top advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, following days of uncertainty over whether Kyiv would attend a meeting proposed by Moscow.

However, Ukrainian officials have insisted that the Kremlin provide their promised memorandum clarifying their position on ending the three-year-long conflict.

“Ukraine is ready to attend the next meeting, but we want to engage in a constructive discussion,” explained Andriy Yermak, in an online statement from Ukraine’s Presidential Office on Thursday night (local time).

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“This means it is important to receive Russia’s draft. There is enough time—four days are sufficient for preparing and sending the documents,” he added.

Kyiv and its European allies have repeatedly accused the Kremlin of stalling for time (and for negotiating the best conditions they could possibly get) with its promised peace memorandum, in the wake of Russia's attrition warfare fuelled by incessant attempts to capture more Ukrainian land.

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“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,” declared Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Sybiha at a joint news conference in Kyiv with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, as per an Associated Press article. 

The report added that the two diplomats also hinted possible Putin-Zelenskyy talks at Istanbul—possibly involving US President Donald Trump as well.

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According to a statement from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday, a Russian delegation will be heading to Istanbul for the second round of peace negotiations on June 2. 

The previous round involved low-level negotiations that failed to bring about a ceasefire, but resulted in the largest exchange of 1,000 prisoners from both sides (POWs) since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. 

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