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Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Monday that there would be another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday.
“Today I discussed with Rustem Umerov the preparation of the exchange and another meeting in Turkey with the Russian side. Umerov reported that the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday,” said Zelenskyy.
He added that more details would be announced on Tuesday.
Two previous rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have resulted in large scale prisoner swaps, but no concrete steps being taken to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine after more than three years of war.
Since the last round of peace talks, Russia released a memorandum detailing their conditions for the fighting to end. This includes Kyiv’s “complete withdrawal of forces” from four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – which Moscow claims as its own annexed “new territories.”
Russia also demands international recognition of the territories it has illegally occupied since 2014, including the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukrainian conditions for peace include a ceasefire to further negotiate. They also want the reciprocal exchange of prisoners of war, the return of children abducted by Russia and the release of all civilians from Russian captivity.
US President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he was “strongly considering” large-scale “banking sanctions, sanctions and tariffs” on Russia should Moscow not reach a final peace agreement in its ongoing all-out war.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump framed the threat as a response to Russia “absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now.”
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you,” the US president said.
Facing growing pressure from the US to show progress in ending the conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin previously turned down a challenge by Zelenskyy to meet in person to discuss peace.
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