Ukraine and Russia started the third round of peace talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday. The negotiators from both countries met for the first time in seven months as Russia is under growing US pressure to end the war that is nearly in its fourth year.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan who opened the meeting, expressed hope that the parties will make progress based on the documents exchanged during the last meeting in Istanbul in June to bring an end to the “bloody war.” “The ultimate goal here is, of course, a ceasefire that will pave the way for peace,” the minister stated.
Ukraine has been seeking a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Vladimir Putin as a key to any potential ceasefire deal. “Ukraine has consistently advocated for a leaders’ meeting. We were ready for it yesterday. We are ready today. And we will be ready tomorrow. Such a meeting could unlock real political progress. Russia must demonstrate its readiness,” Ukrainian delegation chief Rustem Umerov wrote on Telegram. Zelenskiy himself last week offered a one-on-one meeting to his Russian counterpart Putin.
The Kremlin, however, has been pessimistic about the Istanbul meeting, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying prior to the summit that he expected the negotiations to be “very difficult”. “No one expects an easy road,” Peskov said.
Prior to the third round of talks, Volodymyr Zelenskiy revealed his country’s goals from the negotiation. “Our position is fully transparent. Ukraine never wanted this war, and it is Russia that must end the war that it started,” Zelenskiy wrote on X on Tuesday.
The two previous meetings held in Istanbul in May and June failed to achieve a ceasefire, with the Russian delegation sticking to the Kremlin’s hardline position of ceding four Ukrainian regions and rejecting Western military support for Kyiv. However, the meetings resulted in the exchange of hundreds of prisoners of war from both sides.
