A Russian delegation has left for Istanbul where the third round of negotiations with Ukraine could begin as early as Wednesday evening, the country's media reported
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MOSCOW — A Russian delegation has left for Istanbul where the third round of negotiations with Ukraine could begin as early as Wednesday evening, the country's media reported.
The delegation from Moscow is headed by the Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky while the Ukrainian delegation is led by the National Security and Defence Council Secretary Rustem Umerov.
The previous two rounds of talks, also held in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 resulted in the exchange of prisoners but yielded little progress on reaching a ceasefire.
The Ukrainian President had appointed Umerov, a former Defence Minister who headed the Ukrainian delegation in the previous two talks in Istanbul, as Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council last month.
"The momentum of the negotiations must be stepped up," Zelensky said. "Everything should be done to achieve a ceasefire."
Also read: Russia says open to talks with Ukraine, but insists on its goals
The Kremlin has downplayed expectations for the upcoming meeting. "We don't have any reason to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, calling such outcomes "hardly possible in the current situation."
Russia intends to "pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfill the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning," he noted.
Peskov also said that Moscow and Kyiv are "diametrically opposed" in their positions on how to end the conflict, noting that "much work" still needs to be done, Xinhua news agency reported.
Following the last round of peace talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the blueprints for a peace deal shared by the two sides were "absolutely contradictory memorandums."
As Russia demands Ukrainian neutrality, a pledge to stay out of military alliances, and international recognition of Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as Russian territories, Ukraine's memorandum noted the country is "not forced to be neutral."
"It can choose to be part of the Euro-Atlantic community and move towards EU membership. Ukraine's membership in NATO depends on consensus within the Alliance," it said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian President announced last week that his government will ramp up domestic arms production to meet half the country's military needs within six months. He added that Ukraine has also developed its own long-range drones to strike deep inside Russia.