Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in three years, capping a week marked by confusion, opaqueness and insult-swapping — all while an increasingly frustrated United States downplayed the chances for a breakthrough.
Vladimir Putin, who had initially called for negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday, quietly rejected Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to meet him there after neither confirming nor denying his travel plans all week — pushing the talks back to Friday to accommodate the Ukrainian delegation.
Chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said he was “satisfied” with Friday’s talks, during which the two sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each. Russia’s team also said it would consider Kyiv’s request for a Putin-Zelensky meeting.
Ukraine’s delegation head, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said the two sides also discussed a potential ceasefire, which Ukraine and its allies have spent weeks pushing for.
While it remains unclear if, when or where Moscow and Kyiv will hold another round of talks, Donald Trump said he would seek an in-person meeting with Putin, his first with the Russian leader since taking office in January.
No comments:
Post a Comment