The third round of direct negotiations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation took place in Istanbul
The third round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia took place in Istanbul, which were closed to the media and lasted less than an hour. About this informs CNN.
The Ukrainian delegation, as during the previous meetings, was headed by Rustem Umyerov, this time as the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. The Russian side was represented by Volodymyr Medynskyi, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation.
The Secretary of the NSDC, Rustem Umyerov, said that during the negotiations, the Ukrainian delegation “clearly outlined its priorities.” Among these priorities, he included a ceasefire, silence along the entire front line, and a halt to attacks on civilian infrastructure.
“This is where the path to true peace should begin. We are ready for a cease-fire right now.”, – noted Umyerov.
During the meeting, the issues of exchange of prisoners of war, release of civilians and return of Ukrainian children were also discussed. According to Umyerov, Ukraine took the initiative to hold a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Russian President Vladimir Putin with the participation of Presidents Donald Trump and Recep Erdogan by the end of August.
In turn, the Russian delegation accused Ukraine of not fulfilling part of the agreements. This was stated by Volodymyr Medinsky, Putin’s assistant and head of the Russian delegation.
“Ukraine did not fully fulfill one point of the agreement. The positions in the memorandums are quite far from each other. We returned some of the deported children.” Medynsky emphasized.
He also explained that it is about the fact that “not all residents of the Kursk region, evacuated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, returned home”, so one of the points was not fully fulfilled.
At the same time, Medynskyi emphasized that the “sanitary exchanges”, during which both sides hand over the seriously wounded directly to the front line, will continue, although the positions in the memoranda on the peaceful settlement are “quite far from each other”.
“We agreed to continue contacts – both at the level of delegations and, we hope, at the level of working groups.” Medinsky concluded.
