The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced a meeting he held dedicated to diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war and establishing stable peace. According to him, on May 19, he discussed strategic steps with officials and diplomats aimed at achieving peace.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 16, spoke about the progress of negotiations with representatives of Russia.
“The meetings on May 15-16 demonstrated to the world our readiness to establish peace and, accordingly, the necessity to pressure Russia to end the war”
Zelensky emphasized that the main outcome of the recent negotiations was the agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war at a ratio of 1000 to 1000. He also reported that following the meeting, he instructed to form a “permanent expanded national negotiation group” that will seek ways to achieve peace.
Negotiations in Istanbul and Future Prospects
Although the Istanbul meetings, which included additional negotiations with American diplomats, did not yield significant breakthroughs, they represented an important step in the search for compromises. Besides the exchange of prisoners of war, the parties did not reach commitments regarding a ceasefire; however, Russia carried out another large-scale shelling of Ukrainian territories, according to the Ukrainian side.
Reports indicate that Russian representatives in Istanbul made maximalist demands on Ukraine, calling for the withdrawal of troops from occupied regions and fulfilling other conditions that were put forward as early as spring 2022. Ukraine and its Western allies reject these conditions, insisting on the sovereignty and security of Ukraine.
Overall, the negotiations remain complex and prolonged, but the establishment of a permanent negotiation group opens new opportunities for a diplomatic resolution of the conflict.