After three years, Moscow and Kiev found themselves at the same table to find a peace solution to the war in. However, what was said before, during, and after the conversations, showed you how far the end of the war is and highlighted the gap between what the two sides are seeking.
Ukraine secured the support of its Western allies on Friday after failing to reach a ceasefire agreement in the first direct talks with. According to a Ukrainian diplomatic source, Russian demands were deemed “unacceptable from the beginning”.
Indeed, Kiev said that Russia threatened it with a “eternal war”. This threat seems to be part of an attempt by Moscow to put pressure on, stressing that it is willing to continue the conflict indefinitely if its terms are not accepted. This is also part of what Reuters reports that Mentinsky said that Russia is ready to fight for as long as it needed, making a historical reference to the wars of Tsar Peter the Great with Sweden, which lasted 21 years in the 18th century. “We do not want war, but we are ready to fight for one, two, three years – for as long as you want,” he allegedly said.
Under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the conflict, delegations from the two war -torn countries.
The talks, which took place in Constantinople, lasted less than two hours.
The agreement on prisoners
Russia welcomed the meeting and was eager to continue contacts. The two sides have agreed to the exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war each – the largest so far – as a measure of building trust.
However, Kiev, which calls on the West to impose stricter sanctions if Moscow rejects Trump’s proposal for a 30 -day ceasefire, hastened to mobilize its allies for a tougher reaction.
Immediately after the end of the talks, President Volodimir Zelenski had a telephone conversation with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland, his spokesman said.
The Russian demands were characterized by a Ukrainian source as “out of reality and far beyond what had been discussed in the past”. The same source, who spoke anonymously to Reuters, said that Moscow demanded Ukraine to withdraw from sections of its territory to achieve a ceasefire, including “unrealistic and non -constructive terms”.
Starmer against Russia
British Prime Minister Kir Starmer said Russia’s attitude is “clearly unacceptable”, adding that European countries, the US and Ukraine are “coordinating” their answers.
EU diplomatic source He said: “None of these discussions emerged.” Zelenski stressed that strict sanctions should be followed if Russia rejects the ceasefire.
The leader of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Mentinsky, said that his team “took into account” the Ukrainian request for a direct meeting between Zelenski and Putin, but Putin rejected the challenge of the Ukrainian president to meet him.
“We agreed that each side will present its own perspective on a possible ceasefire and clarify it in detail. When these plans are presented, then we consider it appropriate – as it was agreed – to continue negotiations, “Mentinsky said.
Very low expectations
Expectations for substantial progress were already low and declined further on Thursday, when Trump, completing a tour of the Middle East, said.
Zelenski said Ukraine’s priority is “a complete, unconditional and sincere ceasefire … to stop bloodshed and create a steady basis for diplomacy”.
Russia says it wishes to end the war through diplomatic media and is willing to discuss the ceasefire, but raises a number of concerns, saying that Ukraine could exploit a ceasefire to rebuild, mobilize new forces.
The two roads
Ukraine and her allies accuse Putin of deliberately delaying and not really seeking peace. The negotiating groups sat facing each other – the Russians in costumes, while half of Ukrainians wore military uniforms.
“There are two roads in front of us: one leads to a process that will bring peace, while the other leads to more destruction and death. The sides will decide with their own will what the way to take, “Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at the start of the meeting.
The Ukrainian source said that Ukrainian negotiators spoke in their own language through an interpreter, although the Russian language is widely understood in Ukraine.
Ukrainian and European sources have also said that Russia has rejected Kiev’s request for the presence of US representatives at the meeting.
Putin was the one who proposed direct talks to Turkey, but refused to respond to Zelenski’s challenge to meet him in person, sending a group of middle -level officials instead. Ukraine responded with a delegation of corresponding gravity.
At the same time, Russia announced that it had occupied another village in its slow and bloody advance in eastern Ukraine. Shortly before the start of the meeting in Constantinople, Ukrainian media broadcast an alarm and explosions in Dnipro.
Extension of talks of 2022
Moscow considers current conversations as a continuation of negotiations
However, the terms of those talks – at a time when Ukraine was still shocked by the invasion – were extremely adverse to Kiev, including a demand to reduce the size of the Ukrainian army.
Zelenski’s head of the office, Andriy Germak, said that any Russia’s attempt to align the current talks with those failed negotiations would fail.
With Russian forces controlling almost 20% of Ukraine, Putin insists on his fixed demands: Ukraine to grant territories, abandon the ambitions of NATO integration and become a neutral state.
Ukraine rejects these terms as an act of submission and calls for security guarantees by great powers, especially the United States.
