Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The Turkish President is proposing that Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump meet in Turkey.
The Turkish President is proposing that Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump meet in Turkey.
What is happening?
Monday, delegations from Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul, Turkey, to continue negotiations on a possible ceasefire or even peace treaty.
About an hour
The negotiations lasted for barely an hour, clearly showing how far apart the two sides are.
Ukrainian demands
Before the negotiations, Ukraine released an outline for a peace deal with Russia.
The demands included a personal meeting between Volodomyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, a 30-day ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners.
Russian demands leaked
After the talks ended Monday, a leaked memo detailed the Russian demands, and it’s clear that the two sides are still miles apart.
Huge chunks of territory
According to Reuters, the Russian demands states that Moscow would only agree to end the war, if Ukraine agrees to give up huge parts of their territory.
Specifically, Russia demands that Ukraine recognize the annexed Crimean Peninsula as Russian territory as well as four regions in the East of Ukraine.
Option 1
According to Reuters, the leaked Russian text also included two possible options for Russia to accept a peace settlement.
The first option is a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the regions annexed by Russia.
Option 2
The second option would require Ukraine to accept a halt of foreign military aid as well as ceasing military redeployments.
The option also includes a demand for elections being held in Ukraine within 100 days.
Both options are concidered unacceptable to Ukraine.
2-3 day ceasefire
The Russian delegation did, however, suggest af 2-3-day ceasefire in certain areas of the front.
The purpose of this ceasefire is for the sides to retrieve the bodies of fallen soldiers.
Prisoner exchange agreed
While the two sides are far apart, they both agreed on an exchange of prisoners as well as return of the bodies of fallen soldiers.
All sick, heavily wounded and all under 25 years of age are part of the exchange.
12,000 bodies returning
As for the return of bodies of fallen soldiers, the two sides are committing to exchange 12,000 bodies between them.
Abducted children
Ukraine also submitted a list of 400 Ukrainian children taken to Russia from the occupied territories, asking for their return.
Zelenskyy said that when providing the 400 names, the Russian delegation proposed on working on the return of about 10.
Russia hos repeatedly denied the abduction of Ukrainian children.
What happens now?
After the talks Monday, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proposed a meeting between Volodomy Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Volodomy Zelenskyy has said, he is ready to meet Putin and Trump in Turkey. Putin has not yet commented on the proposal.