Russia, Ukraine Resume Ceasefire Talks Monday
Officials of Ukraine and Russia are set to resume talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, on Monday.
The talks, the second in as many weeks, come after both countries evenly exchanged 2,000 prisoners.
The first round of talks were preceded by the release of 909 bodies of fallen Ukrainian troops to officials of the country.
Monday talks, like the first round, are expected to be tough, with the two sides still far apart on the precedent conditions.
While Ukraine insists on urgent talks leading to an unconditional ceasefire, Russia is demanding the resolution of what it terms the issues that led to its invasion of its smaller neighbour in 2022.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman of Russian leader, Vladimir Viktor Putin, at Friday’s press briefing in Moscow at which he broke news of the country’s intention to attend the upcoming talks in Turkiye,did not disclose the issues.
However, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, had hinted that Russia would present a memorandum listing its demands.
Earlier in the course of the three- year war, Russia had said that Ukraine must drop its aspiration to the membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, must cede its territories it has lost to Russia, as well as restrain from rearming .
