Russia on Wednesday claimed that Ukraine had declined its proposal for a short lived partial cease-fire geared toward permitting either side to retrieve their useless from the battlefield, whereas the Ukrainian president dismissed the proposal as “an ultimatum.”
“I believe this is simply a gross mistake on the part of the regime in Kyiv,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instructed President Vladimir Putin throughout a televised briefing on the outcomes of Monday’s peace talks in Istanbul.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday dismissed Russia’s cease-fire proposal as “an ultimatum” and renewed his name for direct talks with Russian President Putin to interrupt the impasse over the conflict, which has dragged on for practically 3½ years.
Both sides exchanged memoranda setting out their situations for a cease-fire for dialogue at Monday’s direct peace talks between delegations in Istanbul, their second assembly in simply over two weeks. Both sides have established pink traces that make any fast deal unlikely.
Zelenskyy stated that the second spherical of talks in Istanbul was no completely different from the primary assembly on May 16. Zelenskyy described the most recent negotiations in Istanbul as “a political performance” and “artificial diplomacy” designed to stall for time, delay sanctions and persuade the United States that Russia is engaged in dialogue.
“The same ultimatums they voiced back then – now they just put them on paper… Honestly, this document looks like spam. It’s spam meant to flood us and create the impression that they’re doing something,” Zelenskyy stated in his first response to the Russian doc.
He added that the 2025 talks in Istanbul carry “the same content and spirit” because the fruitless negotiations held within the Turkish metropolis within the early days of the conflict.
Source: www.dailysabah.com