Ukraine awaiting Russia peace proposal ahead of Istanbul talks
Russia has said it is sending a delegation to Istanbul for a second round of peace talks with Ukraine on 2 June, as the two sides reportedly remain far apart on how to end the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s conditions for a ceasefire would be discussed in Turkey. Russia is yet to send its proposals to Ukraine – a key demand by Kyiv.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Thursday he had handed over his country’s proposals to Russia, reaffirming “readiness for a full and unconditional ceasefire”.
The first round of talks in Istanbul on 16 May brought no breakthrough, aside from a prisoner of war swap – the biggest exchange since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
On Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reiterated that Kyiv had already sent its own “vision of future steps” to Russia, adding Moscow “must accept an unconditional ceasefire” to pave the way for broader negotiations.
“We are interested in seeing these meetings continue because we want the war to end this year,” Sybiha said during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.
If the talks go ahead on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are not expected to attend.
But Fidan said Turkey was hoping to eventually host a high-level summit.
“We sincerely think it is time to bring President Trump, President Putin and President Zelensky to the table,” he said.
Peskov said Russia’s ceasefire proposals would not be made public, and Moscow would only entertain the idea of a high-level summit if meaningful progress was achieved in preliminary discussions between the two countries.
He welcomed comments made by Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, retired Gen Keith Kellogg, who described Russian concerns over Nato enlargement as “fair”.
Gen Kellogg said Ukraine joining the military alliance, long hoped for by Kyiv, was not on the table.
He added President Trump was “frustrated” by what he described as Russia’s intransigence, but emphasised the need to keep negotiations alive.
On 19 May, Trump and Putin had a two-hour phone call to discuss a US-proposed ceasefire deal to halt the fighting.
The US president said he believed the call had gone “very well”, adding that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start” negotiations towards a ceasefire and “an end to the war”.
Ukraine has publicly agreed to a 30-day ceasefire but Putin has only said Russia will work with Ukraine to craft a “memorandum” on a “possible future peace” – a move described by Kyiv and its European allies as delaying tactics so Russian troops could seize more Ukrainian territory.
In a rare rebuke to Putin just days later, Trump called the Kremlin leader “absolutely crazy” and threatened US sanctions. His comments followed Moscow’s largest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told Zelensky that Berlin would help Kyiv produce long-range missiles to defend itself from future Russian attacks.
The Kremlin said any decision to end range restrictions on the missiles Ukraine could use would represent a dangerous change in policy that would harm efforts to bring an end to the war.
Moscow currently controls 20% of Ukraine’s internationally-recognised territory, including the southern peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
