Russia is ready to discuss peace with Ukraine. This is what Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, at an economic forum in Vladivostok. “Are we ready to negotiate with them? We have never refused,” assured the Russian head of state. Adding: “If a desire to negotiate emerges (in Ukraine), we will not refuse.” Moscow had until now ruled out any discussion because of last month’s Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk.
Vladimir Putin, however, sets one condition: the talks must “be based on the documents that were agreed upon and that were de facto initialed in Istanbul” in the spring of 2022. These texts, which have never been officially published, provide, according to information published by the German and American press, security guarantees for kyiv in exchange for Ukraine’s “neutrality.”
The result of several rounds of negotiations between delegations from the two countries, mediated by Turkey, they were finally buried. Moscow claims that a compromise had been initialed but that the West pushed kyiv to reject the agreement. A version of events that Ukraine denies.
First step
The Istanbul talks never resumed. Since then, Russia has tried to portray kyiv as the party that refuses to negotiate. In July, Volodymyr Zelensky took a step towards Moscow by stating that he was in favor of the presence of a Russian delegation at a future peace conference. This statement was interpreted as a major change of position on the part of the Ukrainian head of state, who until now had refused any negotiations until Russia had withdrawn all its forces from within its border – including from the Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014. Volodymyr Zelensky also declared his intention to present soon a “plan” to “achieve a just peace as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, the two countries continue to sink deeper into war. In response to the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, Russia has been conducting an intensive bombing campaign on Ukrainian cities. Earlier this week, attacks killed seven people, including children, in Lviv, while at least 54 people were killed and 297 injured in a strike on a military institute in Poltava, in the center of the country.
At the same time, the Russian army is accelerating its advance in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the direction of Pokrovsk, an important logistics center from which it is now less than ten kilometers. Russian troops claimed on Wednesday the capture of a new locality in this area, Karlivka. In a sign that the situation is worsening, Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of children living in around thirty villages around Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk, according to the Ministry of Reintegration.
Dmytro Kuleba’s resignation accepted
A major cabinet reshuffle is underway in Ukraine as the country “needs new energy” after two and a half years of war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday. Several ministers have resigned, including Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament approved his departure.
