4th Round Of Talks Between Ukraine And Russia Will Take Place After "Legal Formats" Are Worked Out - Podoliak

Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President's Office and a member of the negotiating delegation, said that the fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia would take place after "legal formats" were worked out.

He said this in an interview with Kommersant, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Now all these (proposals) are in conditional working groups, in legal formats it is discussed what the final documents might look like, because they will then have to be initialed, signed, and so on. As soon as mutual counter legal formats are developed, a meeting will be scheduled - the fourth round of negotiations. It could be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow," he said.

Podoliak believes that the agreement between Russia and Ukraine should be "multi-component".

"It should include several positions. First of all, positions regarding the cessation of the actual war as such. The second point is the procedure, the speed in terms of time parameters for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine. The third part is a peace agreement. How peace will be guaranteed. And here we return to the key moment around which everything is built - security guarantees to Ukraine so that such situations do not happen again," Podoliak stressed.

He noted that another point concerns the restoration of the infrastructure destroyed as a result of hostilities, and the Ukrainian side is waiting for compensation for this from Russia.

"Compensatory mechanisms should be clearly spelled out: at what expense and at what budget all this will be restored. Excuse me, these are amounts in billions of dollars, if we take a preliminary estimate," Podoliak said.

In his opinion, the parties are approaching a compromise, and "the Russian side is already looking much more adequately" at the situation.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported, in an interview with foreign media, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that negotiations with Russia are beginning to bring diplomatic signals, not ultimatums.