Ukraine demands serious diplomacy ahead of Istanbul talks

The second round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia is scheduled for 2 June in Istanbul. Kyiv expects Moscow to present a peace memorandum before the meeting. However, Russia has yet to offer any proposals.

In a Saturday address, the Ukrainian president pointed out that Russia's behaviour on this issue is unserious. There is no clear information about what the Russians are bringing to Istanbul. "We don’t have it, Turkey doesn’t have it, the United States doesn’t have it, and neither do our other partners. At this point, it looks far from serious", said Volodymyr Zelensky in a published video.

Zelensky noted that Ukraine is preparing for new diplomatic steps with partners in Europe and the United States. "Of course, everyone in the world wants diplomacy to work and for an actual ceasefire to take place. Everyone wants Russia to stop playing games with diplomacy and end the war. We want a serious peace — and Russia must agree to that. That should be the agenda of the meetings. We have already presented our agenda", he said.

"We hope the American side will be decisive on the issue of sanctions to help bring peace closer", added Zelensky.

The previous round of negotiations in Istanbul took place on 16 May. Russia sent an exceptionally low-level delegation to these talks in Turkey—led by one of Vladimir Putin's advisors.

Andriy Yermak emphasised that Kyiv expects Russia to present a memorandum on the peace agreement by 2 June. He said that Ukraine is ready to participate in the next meeting, but they want to have constructive discussions and he added that for Kyiv, it is important to receive this document, and Russia has enough time to do it. According to him, the Russian side received a text detailing Ukraine's position.