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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that the next round of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held in Turkiye on Wednesday, according to a video statement released on Telegram, as reported by RT.
Moscow and Kyiv have already conducted two rounds of negotiations in Istanbul earlier this year. During their last meeting, both sides exchanged draft memorandums outlining potential roadmaps toward resolving the conflict and also agreed on fresh prisoner-of-war exchanges, RT stated. "I discussed with Rustem Umerov the preparation of the [POW] exchange and another meeting in Turkiye with the Russian side. Umerov reported that the meeting is planned for Wednesday," Zelensky said in the statement. Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, who also led Kyiv's delegation at the previous rounds of talks, was cited by Zelensky as the official coordinating the preparations for the upcoming meeting. RT noted that earlier reports from TASS, citing an insider source, had indicated the talks would take place on Thursday. However, Zelensky confirmed Wednesday as the planned date for the dialogue, according to the latest update. The upcoming discussions mark a continuation of the diplomatic engagement between the two countries amid ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict through negotiation, RT added. In line with this, the Russian leadership is preparing a response to Kiev's proposal for a new round of negotiations if the Ukrainian side has approached Russia with such an initiative, Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia. "If there really was a statement (about Ukraine's readiness for negotiations), I am convinced that it is being seriously considered by the Russian leadership. And, apparently, we will find out the decision in the coming days. If the proposal is accepted, we need to prepare for contacts," he said. On July 17, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said that during the third round, the parties would discuss the draft memoranda that they exchanged at the previous meeting. They set out the specific conditions for each side to cease fire and establish peace. Grigory Karasin commented with scepticism on the possible positive results of the discussion of the memoranda. "If we talk from a position of optimism, which is typical for us, then yes, it can bring results. But this optimism is peculiar, in my opinion, only to us, and everyone else is playing some kind of game. I mean the participants in the process, first of all, the Kiev authorities," he clarified. (ANI)
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