Russia and Ukraine meet again for peace talks, hardly any hope

Russia and Ukraine meet again for peace talks, hardly any hope

Since the last meeting with Ukraine for peace search, Russia has four of its five greatest drone attacks Started and killed more than 340 civilians. In addition, the country continues its false narrative about the unprovoked war, which it has been going on for over a decade.

Russian peace talks in Turkey

Now Moscow wants to have talks again. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the next round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will take place in Turkey on Monday. On Sunday, Kiev confirmed that it would send a delegation to the meeting while Russian state media reported that a Russian delegation flies to Istanbul.

Agreement on an armistice?

Kiev claims that Russia and Ukraine in their In Istanbul last month, they had approved their requirements last month Exchange to a ceasefire. While Kiev gives his plan last week, Russia has not yet done so.

"So that a meeting makes sense, the agenda must be clear and the negotiations have to be prepared well", wrote Selenskyj X on Friday after receiving the Foreign Minister of Türkiye in Kiev. He also emphasized that the possible second round of peace talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was discussed on Friday and the conditions under which Ukraine would be willing to take part.

Selenskyj added that he had called for the “preparation of the (Istanbul) meeting at the highest level” to ensure reliable and permanent peace and security. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerow will lead the delegation again.

challenge for the talks

Although Russian and Ukrainian civil servants meet for talks on Monday, it is unlikely that the summit will bring immediate results. In the past few days, statements by Russian civil servants clarify that Moscow adheres to its maximum requirements.

according to a telephone call with US President Donald Trump On May 19, President Wladimir Putin reiterated the request, that the “causes” of the conflict must be removed. These “causes” include long-cherished Russian grievances, including the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state and the NATO expansion to the east since the end of the Cold War.

The pressure by the USA

Kyiv rejected these claims because their acceptance would have a capitulation. The talks on Monday could mainly serve to satisfy Trump, who repeatedly threatened both Ukraine and Russia if they do not get involved in his peace process.

Trump put Kiev under pressure to discuss with Moscow and threatened to withdraw from the conversations and to delete US aid if he should come to the conclusion that the Ukraine does not cooperate.

Russia's military activities

While the Russian president threatened to impose “massive sanctions” against Russia, it should not agree to its 30-day ceasefire offering, at the same time he said that possible new sanctions could harm Russia. On Friday there was a Bipartisaner US senator Republicans Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal want to support a law to impose further sanctions against Russia.

Putin did not explicitly rejected the suggestions for an armistice, but instead used delay tactics. The Russian claim that the conversations and his ceasefire offering only want to present after a meeting is another example of this.

Russian armed forces have intensified their air raids against Ukraine in the past few weeks and increasingly use ground troops on numerous front lines. Putin has also ordered one of the largest expansion of the Russian military in recent years.

In the meantime, Ukraine carried out the most ambitious simultaneous attacks on Russian military bases since the beginning of the war and used drones to destroy several Russian fighter planes, according to a source of the Ukrainian security service (SBU).

expectations for future discussions

The talks last month were stimulated with high expectations, since this was the first direct meeting between Ukraine and Russia since the early days of the full war. When the Russian leadership sent a lower delegation instead of Putin, it became clear that there was no breakthrough in sight.

The parties agreed to the L greatest prisoner exchange to continue to be a long way off.

To what extent the latest discussions will really serve to make progress remains to be seen. It is obvious that neither Moscow nor Kiev are particularly interested in a dialogue and hardly expect real progress. Nevertheless, they will probably play along to continue to be interested in Trump.