In Istanbul, Russia demanded four regions from Ukraine, threatened to occupy more – Kyslytsia
During the negotiations in Istanbul, the Russians did indeed demand that Ukraine cede four regions and threatened to occupy more if Kyiv did not agree to this. This was stated by First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsia in an interview with the "We – Ukraine" TV channel.
"The amount of trash, the number of threats, cynicism, and immoral statements – it was almost a continuous stream [from the Russian representatives]. You have already heard about some lengthy pseudo-historical excursions. About the fact that 'today we [Russians] demand four regions, tomorrow we will demand eight or six'. [...] About the fact that some members of the [Ukrainian] delegation may lose more relatives," Kyslytsia reported.
According to him, at one of the stages of the negotiations, the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, repeated the occupiers' narrative that the war was allegedly being waged only between Russians.
"In front of him is a Ukrainian plenipotentiary delegation representing the state, consisting of high-ranking department heads, military personnel [who were] at the front, and the head of the Russian delegation says: 'Well, you know, essentially war is when Russians kill Russians, with certain nuances.' End of quote," the diplomat noted.
Kyslytsia noted that in essence the Russian side denied the existence of Ukrainians as a nation and hinted that it did this specifically to arouse emotions: "That is, knowing the deep level of patriotism of Ukrainians, national consciousness, there are fighting people sitting there who were at the front, people who lost their relatives – and you tell them: 'Well, we're just killing Russians, with nuances.' Is this a manifestation of constructivism or is this a desire to strike painfully, so that someone there goes crazy with all the consequences?"
The official called these negotiations "a very difficult situation" and added: "Yes, it's difficult to accept, but, you know, over the years you try to remain human, but it's impossible to treat all this without cynicism."
- On May 16, after the talks in Istanbul, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tykhyi reported that the Russian delegation had said things unacceptable to Ukraine during the talks. However, he did not specify what exactly the occupiers had said.
- Western media, citing Ukrainian diplomatic sources, are writing about another unrealistic demand from the Russian Federation: in particular, Moscow wanted Ukraine to withdraw its troops from its own territories. These are parts of the Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which the aggressor country illegally included in its constitution.
- On May 18, Zelenskyy informed US Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio about the unrealistic conditions for establishing a ceasefire that Russia put forward in Istanbul.