Russia and Ukraine have once again failed to reach a ceasefire agreement. The second round of talks between the two warring sides ended in Istanbul with Moscow and Kiev committing only to an exchange of prisoners of war.
According to the Ukrainian delegation, Moscow once again rejected an unconditional ceasefire, a key condition for Kiev and its allies in Europe and the United States.
As the head of the Ukrainian delegation and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov emphasized, Kiev insists on a complete and unconditional ceasefire, lasting 30 days on land, sea and air. He added that Kiev handed over its conditions to the Russian side "a few days ago", but Moscow, on the contrary, did not do so and was waiting to do so during the talks in Istanbul.
For its part, the Russian delegation, in a separate briefing to the media, emphasized that it proposed a two-three-day ceasefire in certain areas on the front line, without providing further details.
Ultimately, in Monday's talks in the neighboring country – which lasted just over an hour – Russia and Ukraine were content to agree to the exchange of sick and seriously injured prisoners of war, as well as those under the age of 25. The timeframe for this remains unknown at this time, with the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, adding that Russia will hand over the bodies of 6.000 Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine next week.
According to the Ukrainian delegation, Kiev expects the Russians to respond to the Ukrainian proposal by the end of June, while at the same time emphasizing the need to prepare for talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, so far, there has been no progress on this issue either.
Moscow, rejecting a complete and unconditional ceasefire, speaks of "lasting peace", repeating its maximalist demands, which include concessions by Ukraine on crucial issues of sovereignty and security, with Kiev and its allies underlining that Moscow's terms constitute nothing less than Ukraine's capitulation.
Although the ceasefire proposals from both Russia and Ukraine have not been made public, Russian state media have published key points of the Russian ceasefire memorandum.
According to them, Russia demands the official international recognition of the annexed Crimean peninsula, as well as the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, as well as the withdrawal of Ukrainian armed forces from these territories. It also demands the neutrality of Ukraine and the prohibition of any military activity by third countries on its territory, a limitation of the size of the Ukrainian army, Russian as an official language, and the lifting of existing international sanctions against Russia.
Source: skai.gr
