Russia set for Ukraine talks in Turkiye, says progress will be ‘difficult’

Prior to the most recent round of peace talks with Ukrainian counterparts, a Russian delegation is heading to Istanbul, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who added that he anticipated the discussions to be “very difficult.”

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Reuters news agency that a delegation from the country had arrived in Ankara on Wednesday to meet with Turkish officials for bilateral talks before the later meetings with Russia in Istanbul. According to the source, Kyiv is prepared to make significant progress toward achieving full peace and a ceasefire.

On Wednesday evening, Peskov told reporters that the talks will take place in the Turkish city for the third iteration in a while. The first meeting between the parties in more than seven weeks, suggested by Ukraine last week amid persistent US pressure to reach a ceasefire, has a muted likelihood of a resolution.

No one wants an easy road, Peskov told reporters.

Prior discussions have resulted in numerous exchanges of fallen soldiers’ bodies and prisoners of war.

However, they were unable to end the conflict because Russian negotiators refused to drop harsh demands against Ukraine, including renunciating four of its own regions and rejecting Western military support.

No “miraclear breakthroughs” were anticipated

Peskov predicted that the discussions would include prisoner exchanges as well as the positions set out in the draft memoranda presented by each side. He had stated on Tuesday that it was “hardly possible” to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs.

Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister and presidential adviser, will lead Kyiv’s delegation, while Rustem Umerov, a former defense minister, and current secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, will serve as the head of Russia’s delegation.

Russia accused Medinsky of sending officials to the talks without the authority to decide what would end the conflict, as Ukraine had previously claimed.

Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, speaks during the previous, June-focused round of discussions with Ukraine in Istanbul.

Zelenskyy outlines modest goals.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, laid out his country’s objectives in a statement released on social media platform X on Tuesday.

Instead of discussing a comprehensive ceasefire agreement, they suggested organizing a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which might put an end to the conflict.

He claimed that Ukraine was “trying to secure the release of our people from captivity and the return of abducted children,” stop the killings, and set up a leaders’ meeting to set up a “truly successful end to this war.”

He claimed that “our position is completely open.” Russia must end the conflict that started, not Ukraine, because it never wanted it.

He claimed in a different statement on Tuesday that work was being done to prepare for the prisoner exchanges that had been discussed in previous discussions with Russia.

We have been able to significantly intensify the exchange process over the spring and summer, he said. According to &nbsp, “people who have been held in Russian prisons and camps since before the full-scale war are among those who have been freed from captivity.”

“Keeping the conversation going”

Rory Challands, a reporter from Kyiv, claimed that no indication was made that the discussions would “be especially productive.”

They are most likely going to rehabilitate the assumptions made during previous discussions, which essentially facilitate the exchange of prisoners and the transfer of soldiers’ remains.

He added that Kyiv was also concerned about the return of children who had been seized from occupied areas by Russia.

However, he said, “I don’t believe there is any expectation here that these discussions will lead to any significant breakthrough toward peace.”

“It’s likely just going to be keeping the dialogue going and ensuring that at least those minor fundamental areas are improved.”

The bloodshed continues

As Russia’s forces continue its bloody offensive against its neighbor, holding talks scheduled to take place as its forces relentlessly try to advance along the 1, 000km (620-mile) front line.

About 6 km (3. 7 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that its forces had taken control of Varachyne in the country’s northeast Sumy region. Putin made a statement about his plans to occupy Ukrainian border areas in the Sumy region in recent weeks.

A 66-year-old woman was killed overnight by Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to the dpa news agency, quoting regional military governor Oleksandr Prokudin. He claimed on Telegram that two 13-year-olds, among them, had been hurt.

More than 100 NGOs warn Israel’s forced ‘mass starvation’ stalks all Gaza

More than 100 human rights and aid organizations have urged governments to take immediate action in response to Israel’s “mass starvation” of Palestinians in Gaza, including by enforcing an end to the ceasefire and the lifting of all humanitarian aid restraints.

109 organizations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Doctors Without Borders (also known as MSF), issued a statement announcing the deepening population starvation that was spreading throughout the besieged enclave.

As Israel prevents humanitarian organizations from obtaining or delivering them, tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, and other items remain untouched just outside Gaza.

Aid workers are now joining the same food lines and running the risk of being shot just to feed their families because the Israeli government’s siege has starved the Gazan population. Humanitarian organizations are now seeing their own coworkers and partners waste away in front of their eyes as supplies are completely exhausted, according to the organizations.

The statement continued, “The humanitarian system cannot operate on false promises. The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have resulted in chaos, starvation, and death.”

The Gaza Strip’s hospitals have recorded ten additional deaths linked to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health.

According to the ministry’s statement, the total number of people who have been starved to death in the area is 111.

More than 1, 000 needy people have been shot while trying to get food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers stationed close to GHF distribution centers, according to the UN. Since its launch in late May, the notorious organization, which is supported by the United States and Israel, has faced fierce criticism from humanitarian organizations, including the UN, for its alleged lack of neutrality.

The NGOs also demanded that all administrative and bureaucratic restrictions be lifted, all land crossings to be made accessible, everyone to be able to access Gaza, military-controlled distribution to be abstained, and the restoration of a “principled, UN-led humanitarian response” are brought up by governments.

“States must implement concrete steps, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition, to put an end to the siege.”

More than 20 nations pleaded on Monday for the war’s immediate conclusion, claiming the suffering in Gaza had “reached new depths.”

The US announced that Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, would travel to Europe for ceasefire talks and an aid “corridor,” and the EU has also warned Israel of its response to the Gaza-crash’s worsening starvation crisis.

“Pipe level of starvation”

Israel has imposed a punishing blockade on Gaza for months, only partially easing it for GHF, which controls all supplies, food, medicine, and fuel entering the country. Despite mounting mounting evidence, the Israeli government claims that 950 trucks’ worth of aid were waiting for international agencies to be collected and distributed in Gaza. It claims that this is because it is responsible for food shortages.

On July 25, 26, 27, and “all the coming days, until the siege is broken and the famine ends,” Hamas has urged “all the free people of the world” to organize demonstrations, sit-ins, and “angry marches” in Gaza.

In spite of a suspicious global silence and the absence of any action that raises the scale of the catastrophe, “people are dying of hunger and malnutrition, and famine is making its deadly presence felt in the faces of children, mothers, and the elderly,” according to its statement, which was posted on Telegram.

The UN, which refuses to cooperate with it, “has a capacity and operational problem,” according to GHF, and calls for “more collaboration” to provide life-saving aid.

Gaza is experiencing “peak levels of starvation,” according to Mara Bernasconi, regional communications and advocacy manager for Humanity &amp, an NGO with teams working in the area.

She claimed that after 21 months of war, humanitarian workers in Gaza have gone through “death, hunger, displacement, and danger.”

They are struggling to concentrate and function [while carrying out their jobs] because they directly experience malnourishment and dehydration, and it’s insane because this is a human-made humanitarian crisis that is deteriorating daily due to impunity and inaction, according to Bernasconi.

Medical professionals and journalists continue to perform under excruciatingly difficult conditions, which have onlygotten worse with hunger.

“We continue to work despite the severe food shortage and the escalating famine.” I haven’t had a single meal in the last two days, according to ambulance driver Raja al-Attar, who spoke to Al Jazeera.