Representatives of Russia and Ukraine want to talk about a ceasefire in Istanbul. The government in Kyiv wants to “thoroughly” examine the neutrality of the country demanded by Russia. Talks are due to start tomorrow.

According to the Kremlin, new personal peace negotiations between two delegations from Ukraine and Russia could begin tomorrow in Istanbul. “Today, they probably won’t continue there,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We expect that could theoretically happen tomorrow.”

The Ukrainian negotiator also said that talks would not start until tomorrow morning. One is still on the way. There are logistical problems, said David Arahamija.

A Turkish government spokesman had previously said that negotiations would begin later today. The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinski, had announced that after around two weeks of online negotiations, a personal meeting was planned for Tuesday.

The Ukrainian side also initially spoke of the start of negotiations on Monday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone call on Sunday that the new round of negotiations, last conducted via video conference, should occur in Istanbul. Initial negotiations at the ministerial level on March 10 in Antalya, Turkey, failed to bring any concrete progress towards a ceasefire in Ukraine. Since then, talks have continued via video conference, and both parties to the conflict recently described it as “difficult”.

Even before the new round of negotiations in Turkey, Ukraine has already lowered expectations. Adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry Denysenko said he didn’t think there would be a breakthrough on the critical issues.

In the negotiations, the government in Kyiv wants to “thoroughly” examine the question of the neutrality of the country demanded by Russia. This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with several independent Russian media outlets on Sunday. The conflicting parties want to start a new round of negotiations in Istanbul.

 

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