After humanitarian issues, subject of discussion with russia will be meeting of Zelenskyy and putin – Umerov

Ukraine intends to move on to discussing the meeting of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and dictator vladimir putin after the completion of negotiations with the aggressor country of the russian federation on humanitarian issues.

The Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov stated this during a closed conversation with journalists, the RBC-Ukraine publication reports.

"After the completion of discussions on humanitarian issues, Ukraine plans to move on to the topic of a meeting of leaders for substantive dialogue," the minister said.

Umerov emphasized that from the beginning of the dialogue, Ukraine supported the idea of ​​the head of the White House Donald Trump regarding a ceasefire. However, during the last two meetings of delegations in Turkey, no compromise was reached on this issue, as the russian federation constantly put forward ultimatums.

The minister also added that on humanitarian issues (exchanges of prisoners, repatriation of the bodies of the deceased) Ukraine has always demonstrated consistency: the exchange program has been in effect for the third year. In turn, russia, according to Umerov, is using this topic as an argument to avoid increased sanctions pressure.

Umerov noted that additional clarifications on the progress of the negotiations and the format of the continuation will be provided in the near future

"Ukraine has always remained consistent in its pursuit of peace. We supported the US initiative for a complete ceasefire from the very beginning and proved this with many rounds of negotiations. But any dialogue is possible only without ultimatums and with respect for the sovereignty of our state," he emphasized.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, according to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Donald Trump will go to peace talks between the presidents of russia and Ukraine if russian dictator vladimir putin arrives there.