Russia And Ukraine Are Set To Hold Their First Direct Peace Talks In 3 Years In Turkey
HuffPost
After Vladimir Putin rejected his offer for face-to-face talks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of not making a serious effort to end the war.
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine are due to hold their first direct peace talks in three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations, but officials and observers expect them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than 3-year war.
A Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was due to meet with a low-level Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
The latest push to end the fighting got off to a rocky start on Thursday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face. Delegations from the two countries also flew to different Turkish cities and put together teams of significantly different diplomatic heft for possible talks.
Although expectations for a possible Putin-Zelenskyy meeting were low, the apparent lack of traction in peace efforts frustrated hopes of bold steps being taken in Turkey toward reaching a settlement.
The two sides are far apart in their conditions for ending the war, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday during a trip to the Middle East that a meeting between himself and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock.
