ADVERTISEMENTAlthough the second round of the talks between kyiv and Moscow Monday did not end the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in Russia, it provided more details on both parties are and, more precisely, which they require each other.
From the perspective of the meeting on Monday, kyiv and Moscow would have agreed to submit their individual “memorandum of peace”, describing the key positions before the delegations meet for talks.
Ukraine gave its memorandum to Russia before the meeting, but Russia waited for the meeting to take place in Istanbul before delivering its document.
Similar to the first round on May 16, negotiations ended with an agreement for an exchange of prisoners covering two categories: young soldiers aged 18 to 25 and seriously ill prisoners.
Kyiv and Moscow have also agreed to exchange the bodies of the soldiers who have fallen, 6,000 on each side.
The Russian state media reported that the heads of delegations held a separate meeting that lasted two and a half hours – more than twice as long as official exhibitions – and according to the Kremlin -affiliated outlets, he “predetermined an effective course in additional negotiations”.
Kyiv Memorandum of Peace
The key point of the Ukraine roadmap is a ceasefire. Kyiv demands that it is the first step towards all other measures and possible peace agreements.
The Ukrainian delegation once again offered Moscow a complete ceasefire as well as a reciprocal exchange of prisoners of war, the return of children kidnapped by Russia and the release of all civilians in Russian captivity.
The Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov, who managed the kyiv team, confirmed that Ukraine had given Russia a list of “several hundred” Ukrainian children expelled by Russia.
Another element on the agenda was to organize a meeting in terms of leadership, perhaps with American president Donald Trump.
“We believe that the additional work between the delegations is logical if it aims to prepare a meeting between the heads of state. We proposed to the Russian party to hold a meeting at the level of the leaders by the end of this month, from June 20 to 30. This is very important for the negotiation process,” said Umerov.
According to the media, the memorandum of Ukraine also indicates that kyiv will continue on his way to join the EU and become a member of NATO in the event of consensus within the Alliance.
kyiv will also call security guarantees that would prevent Russia from launching another attack on the country, as well as the participation of the international community to achieve this.
In return, Ukraine could be willing to accept the gradual lifting of certain sanctions against Russia, but with a mechanism for their renewal of Snapback if necessary.
Memorandum of peace of Moscow
Russia claims to have offered in Ukraine a “partial” ceasefire covering certain parts of the front line in its roadmap.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, said that Russia had prepared a “two-part memorandum”, the second part of which offers a cease-fire of two to three days in certain areas during negotiations.
He also announced the next exchange of prisoners and confirmed that the Russian delegation had received a list of 339 names of the children delivered by Ukraine.
Medinsky said Russia will examine each case on the list and accused kyiv of what he called “the staging of a show” on the subject of expelled children, adding that it is mainly intended for “sympathetic Europeans”.
Medinsky said Kyiv “tries to get a tear out by raising this question”.
According to official Ukrainian information, up to 20,000 Ukrainian children remain in Russia after being illegally expelled from Ukraine. These are the children for whom detailed information has been collected. Their place of residence in Ukraine and their location in Russia are known. The real figure is probably much higher.
Yale’s humanitarian research laboratory has placed the number of Ukrainian children expelled closer to 35,000. Moscow said the number could reach 700,000.
Regarding a complete ceasefire, the first condition in Russia is kyiv’s “complete withdrawal of forces” from four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – which Moscow claims as its own “new territories” annexed.
Russia also demands the international recognition of the territories it has occupied since 2014, including the Crimean Peninsula.
According to Russia’s roadmap, Western weapons supplies in Ukraine must be stopped during the ceasefire and this also applies to the sharing of information.
Moscow also requires the martial launch law of Ukraine and organize elections before any peace agreement could be signed.
The Monday meeting in Istanbul took place one day after the Ukraine operation “Spiderweb”, which says that kyiv struck a third of all Russian missile carriers on Sunday during a coordinated drone attack.
Following this operation, Russia’s requests to Ukraine expressed in Istanbul also include “kyiv’s refusal to engage in sabotage and subversive activities against Russia”.
