Istanbul, Türkiye (AP) – The First direct peace talks Between Russia and Ukraine since the first weeks of the invasion of Moscow in 2022 ended on Friday after less than two hours, according to officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and a Ukrainian senior official.
A Ukrainian official during talks accused the Kremlin of having made new “unacceptable requests” for kyiv to withdraw his forces from the huge territory sides, according to the official, who spoke to the Associated Press subject to anonymity because he was not allowed to make official declarations.
The talks took place after more than three months of diplomacy launched by American president Donald Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the devastating war quickly. Trump’s administration in recent weeks has indicated that it could move away from the peace effort if there is no tangible progress soon.
This is an update of news. The previous history of after follows below.
Istanbul, Türkiye (AP) – Russia and Ukraine held on Friday First direct peace talks Since the first weeks of Moscow’s invasion in 2022, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish proceding negotiations that civil servants and observers have been waiting to make immediate progress to stop the 3 -year war.
While both sides were sitting at a U -shaped table for talks, they are far away Under their conditions to end the war. President Donald Trump, who pressed Moscow and kyiv for the end of the conflict, saying A meeting between him and the Russian president Vladimir Putin would happen “as soon as we can install it”.
“I think it’s time for us to do so,” Trump told journalists at Abu Dhabi in finishing a trip to the Middle East.
In Istanbul, a Ukrainian delegation led by the Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov, sat in front of a Russian low level team led by presidential aid Vladimir Medinsky, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Heorhii Tykhyi, who published a photo of the meeting.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan opened the session by urging the parties “to take advantage of this opportunity”, adding that it was “of extremely important importance that the ceasefire occurs as soon as possible”.
A high Ukrainian official close to talks said that the kyiv delegation was ready to “achieve a lot today” and had the mandate to solve key problems. The official, who spoke to the Associated Press under the guise of anonymity because he was not allowed to make official statements, said that the result depended on the question of whether Moscow was just as serious.
During talks, however, Moscow made “unacceptable requests” which had not been discussed previously, including calls for kyiv forces to withdraw large area of territory which they therefore control a complete ceasefire to implement, said the manager.
He said the Ukrainian side reiterated that it was focused on making real progress-an immediate cease-fire and a way to substantial diplomacy, “just like the United States, European partners and other countries offered,” added the official.
Maneuver before talks
The two countries have embarked on diplomatic maneuvers this week when they were trying to show Trump that they are impatient to negotiate, although he expressed his frustration in the face of slow progression and threatened to punish the footsteps.
Putin postponed an offer from the Ukrainian chef Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday to meet face to face in Türkiye. Zelenskyy accused Moscow of not making serious efforts to end the war by sending a low level delegation.
Ukraine has accepted an American and European proposal for a full ceasefire and 30 daysBut Putin actually rejected it by imposing large -scale conditions.
Commenting on a possible Trump-Putin meeting, the spokesperson for Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, seemed to indicate that the momentum for such a summit is built. He told journalists that high -level discussions were “certainly necessary”, but added that the preparation of a summit would take time.
The fighting continues
In the meantime, Russian forces are preparing A new military offensiveSay Ukrainian analysts and Western military analysts.
A drone attack on Friday morning against the Ukrainian city in the northeast of Kupiansk killed a 55-year-old woman and injured four men, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration. All the victims worked for a municipal public service.
The invasion of Russia killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, known as the UN, and the cities and villages razed. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers died and, according to a larger number of Russian troops, civil servants and analysts.
On the battlefield, a Ukrainian soldier said that he did not hope that the talks would bring a quick end to the war.
“I do not think they will agree on anything concrete, because summer is the best time for war,” he said, only using the “Corsair” call signal, in accordance with the rules of the Ukrainian army. “The enemy is constantly trying to degenerate the situation.”
But he told AP that many of his comrades “believe that by the end of the year, there will be peace, although unstable, but peace”.
Before the talks start, Ukrainian officials met national security advisers from the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to coordinate positions, said a senior Ukrainian official, speaking under the cover of anonymity to talk about sensitive issues.
The American team was led by Lieutenant-General Retired Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, while Umerov and the head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak represented Ukraine, said the official.
A three meeting between Turkey, the United States and Ukraine also took place, officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. The American team included Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as Kellogg.
Thursday, Rubio said: “We do not have great expectations for what will happen” during the talks of Russia-Ukraine.
He said he thought that a breakthrough was possible that a meeting between Trump and Putin.
Zelenskyy, in the meantime, was in Tirana, Albania, for a meeting with leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards in the context of the war.
“If Russian representatives in Istanbul today cannot even accept this, for (a) ceasefire, at this clearly necessary first step, then it will be 100% clear that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy,” said Zelenskyy. “If this is not the case, there must be at least one result today, starting with a ceasefire.”
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The writer Associated Press Aamer Madhani in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, contributed.
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Follow the coverage of war by the AP in Ukraine in https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
