Following heavy bombardments of its neighbor and aerial exchanges in the past week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claims that Russia has suggested a new round of direct talks with Ukraine in Turkiye’s Istanbul on Monday in order to secure a long-term ceasefire.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Lavrov stated, “We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul.”
Kyiv has not responded right away.
The proposal came after a rare meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul on May 16; this was the first direct contact since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The talks ended with the exchange of 1, 000 war prisoners, but Ukraine and its Western allies still have a pressing need for a ceasefire. Moscow has urged that certain conditions be met before military operations can resume.
The delegation leader of Russia, Vladimir Medinsky, announced on Telegram that he had gotten in touch with Rustem Umerov, the country’s defense minister, to set up a meeting.
We are ready to begin an important, substantive discussion of each of the package agreement’s points on a potential ceasefire, Medinsky said, adding that he anticipated a response from Ukraine.
Before the next round of negotiations, Russian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed both parties had agreed to work together to create their own proposals outlining the “modalities of settlement and ceasefire.”
Word war
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is currently under increasing pressure. He made the suggestion that Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, might be putting a stop to the peace process in his Wednesday speech.
Trump said, “We’re going to find out whether or not he is tapping us along,” and if so, we’ll say something different. This could include imposing more sanctions on Moscow, as Ukraine’s European allies have recently done.
Trump appeared to be “not sufficiently informed about what is actually happening in the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation,” according to Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide in the foreign policy world.
Trump said he was reluctant to impose new sanctions on Moscow because he worried they might thwart the fragile ceasefire efforts. He has previously expressed doubts about the efficacy of sanctions.
He told reporters in the Oval Office, “I don’t want to screw it up if I think I’m close to getting a deal.”
Trump claimed on Tuesday that if Putin had not intervened, “really bad” things might have already happened to Russia.
After Moscow launched its largest aerial assault of the conflict against Ukraine, killing at least 13 people, Donald Trump lambasted Putin and called him “absolutely crazy.” It was a remark of Vladimir Putin that was uncommon.
Putin and Trump spoke via phone on May 19 to say that Moscow was prepared to work together on a memorandum for a pending peace agreement, but he had previously resisted moving toward an end to the conflict.
Long-range missiles to be developed jointly by Germany and Ukraine
In addition, Germany and Ukraine announced plans to work together to develop long-range missiles as part of their growing defense cooperation.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke at a joint press conference in Berlin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, saying that “our defence ministers will sign a memorandum of understanding today regarding the procurement of Ukrainian-made long-range weapons systems.”
No range restrictions will apply, he added, allowing Ukraine to fully defend itself against military targets outside of its own country.
Two days prior, Merz had announced that Ukraine’s Western allies had lifted the weapons-supplying restrictions that they had placed on Kyiv.
Zelenskyy claimed that the leaders had also agreed to work together to build and expand new manufacturing facilities in Ukraine.
Source: Aljazeera
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