The russian delegation at the talks with Ukraine in Istanbul put forward unrealistic demands that "go far beyond anything that was previously discussed."
This is reported by Axios.
In particular, the russians demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from several Ukrainian regions in exchange for a ceasefire.
"Russian demands are detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed," an unnamed Ukrainian diplomat told reporters.
The Economist specified that russia demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk Regions, which russia does not fully control, but which it has written into its constitution. In addition, the russians threatened to go further and occupy the Sumy and Kharkiv Regions.
As a reminder, the negotiations between the Ukrainian and russian sides lasted less than two hours and were conducted through an interpreter.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who is participating in the negotiation process with the russian delegation in Istanbul, stated that Ukraine is ready for direct negotiations with the aggressor country russia at the highest level. Peace is possible if the russian federation agrees to a complete ceasefire and implements humanitarian steps.
Instead, the russians want to create associations between the russian-Ukrainian negotiations in 2022 and the current ones. As a reminder, during the Istanbul negotiations in 2022, russia demanded that Ukraine actually surrender.
On May 11, kremlin leader vladimir putin publicly proposed resuming direct negotiations with Ukraine on May 15. According to putin, the venue for the negotiations should be Istanbul, a city where previous rounds of dialogue were already held in 2022. However, as a result, putin did not come to the negotiations, but sent a delegation instead, consisting of deputy ministers and putin's assistant Vladimir Medinsky.
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