Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – On Thursday, Russia announced that it is still awaiting a reply from Kyiv regarding its proposal to host the next round of peace talks in Turkey on June 2, where talks on draft memorandums for a peace agreement would begin.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin suggested a fresh set of direct negotiations, intending to deliver to Kyiv a memorandum detailing what it identified as the essential elements for addressing the fundamental causes of the conflict.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated that Russia has yet to receive a response from Ukraine. In response to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha’s proposal for Russia to promptly deliver the memorandum, Peskov rejected the notion as unhelpful.
“Here, you need to confirm whether you are ready to continue talks or take the alternative action opposite,”
He stated.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov announced that Ukraine had submitted its memorandum regarding a possible settlement and urged Moscow to present its version without delay instead of waiting until next week.
How did the Istanbul meeting shape future talks?
The direct peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on May 16, 2025, in Istanbul, did not yield a deal for a ceasefire. This was the first in-person meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While a prisoner exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side occurred, there was no ceasefire agreement, which Ukraine and its Western allies regard as crucial to moving forward.
Moscow stated that a ceasefire is impossible until certain conditions are met, including Ukraine vacating four partially occupied regions that Russia allegedly has annexed, a written commitment that NATO would not advance further to the east (which would preclude Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova from the alliance), easing some Western sanctions, resolving frozen Russian assets, and protecting Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
Russia also ties the ceasefire to addressing what it claims to be the root causes of the conflict, including Ukraine’s severing ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and language laws, which Russia assesses as discriminating against Russian speakers.
