Ukrainian Chief of Staff Andrei Yermak on social media said that senior Ukrainian officials held a meeting in Istanbul on Friday with the American envoy Keith Kelog and senior assistants of French, British and German leaders.
The meeting was attended by the Ukrainian side by Yermak, Foreign Minister Andre Cibaha and Defense Secretary Rostam Omerov.
The Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul were on Friday because of what was described as the first direct peace talks in more than three years, under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.
The expected meeting at the Dolmabahis Palace on the Bosphorus will be a sign of diplomatic progress between the two warring sides, who have not met face to face since March 2022, the month that follows Russia’s invasion.
Expectations were reduced to a large penetration, already low, on Thursday when Trump said that there would be no movement without a meeting between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, the Kremlin confirmed that Russia President Vladimir Putin will not attend peace talks in Istanbul, and send assistants and deputy ministers instead. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelinski bent shortly after, and the Russian delegation was rejected as a “decor.” William Taylor, the former American ambassador to Ukraine, says it is especially strange because Putin proposed the meeting in the first place.
Trump, who ended with a tour in the Middle East and returns to Washington, said on Friday that he will meet with the Russian leader, “Once we can prepare it.”
In Istanbul, a Reuters correspondent saw the first cars to reach the location of the conversations, including small white buses and many black cars. The Turkish Foreign Ministry source said that the meeting had started between Turkish officials, the United States and Ukrainian.
Turkish sources have said that the Ukrainian and Russian delegations would meet in the presence of Turkish officials, starting from 0930 GMT (5:30 am EST).
On Sunday, Putin suggested direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey, but he rejected a challenge from Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski to meet him personally, and instead he sent a team of mid -class officials to the talks.
Zelinki said that Putin’s decision not to attend, but to send what he called a “decorative” assortment showed that the Russian leader was not serious about ending the war. Russia has accused Ukraine of trying to “make an offer” on the talks.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also traveled to Istanbul on Friday, told reporters the night before, based on the level of negotiating teams, was unlikely to make a major penetration.
“I hope I am wrong. I hope to be 100 % mistaken. I hope the news will say tomorrow they agreed to the ceasefire; they agreed to enter serious negotiations. But I just give you my evaluation, frankly,” he said.
Russia says it sees the talks as a continuation of the negotiations that occurred in the first weeks of the war in 2022, also in Istanbul.
But the conditions are under discussion, when Ukraine was still reeling from the initial invasion of Russia, it would be unfavorable for Lyvar. Among them is a request from Moscow for large discounts to the size of the Ukraine army.
With the control of the Russian forces now nearly five Ukraine, Putin has withstood his old demand for Kev to waive his lands, abandon the aspirations of NATO membership and become a neutral country.
Ukraine rejects these conditions as a surrender, and seeks to obtain guarantees for its future security from global powers, especially the United States.
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