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Another round of talks is taking place in Istanbul today between the delegations of Ukraine and Russia. The main topics of discussion are the assessment of the conditions and prospects for a ceasefire, the exchange of prisoners, and the preparation of a meeting at the level of the presidents. This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan before the talks began, Ukrinform reports.
“We aim to continue assessing the conditions and prospects of the two countries for a ceasefire, to advance the process of exchanging prisoners of war and to prepare the ground for a meeting of the leaders,” the Turkish Foreign Minister said.
Turkey calls for concrete progress
Fidan stressed the importance of regularity of such talks and expressed hope that this meeting would be a step towards real progress:
“Our main expectation is that the meeting will be productive and achieve a concrete result in the shortest possible time,” he said.
US support and the role of Turkey
The Turkish foreign minister also stressed the importance of American support for the negotiation process, emphasising Turkey’s key role as a mediator:
“The trust that both countries have in Turkey, with which we share a common geography and deep historical, economic and cultural ties, is extremely valuable.”
Intelligence participation
Ibrahim Kalın, head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation, is also taking part in the talks, which demonstrates the high level of involvement of the Turkish side and its focus not only on diplomatic but also on security aspects of the dialogue.
The meeting in Istanbul comes amid Kyiv’s efforts on humanitarian initiatives, including the return of children and civilian prisoners, and preparations for a peace summit in Switzerland in mid-June. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that if the talks in Turkey do not yield results, Ukraine will call on the West to introduce a new package of sanctions against Russia.
