MFA: Currently, preparations for the third round of negotiations in Istanbul are not underway

Ukraine is not currently preparing for the third round of talks in Istanbul, as Russia responds to the Ukrainian side's proposals only with ultimatums. Success has been achieved only in the issue of prisoner exchange. This was announced at a briefing by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Georgy Tykhyi.

"Two meetings in Istanbul in May and June led to a limited result on the humanitarian track, which is important for us, but there was no other result due to Russia's unconstructive position," Tykhyi said.

According to him, Russia is only putting forward ultimatums and unrealistic demands. Accordingly, the question arose of what the Istanbul format is achieving.

"If it comes to exchanging prisoners, then other groups are engaged in this, this process continued even before the meeting in Istanbul. It is not necessary to send an entire defense minister abroad to agree on an exchange. If people of this level [Russian representatives at the negotiations] are not capable of resolving fundamental issues such as a ceasefire, then a meeting of leaders is clearly needed," he said.

Tykhyi reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready for a meeting at the highest level "even tomorrow", but Russia is avoiding this proposal.

"Therefore, it is too early to talk about any preparations for the third round," he said.

Tykhyi once again called on Ukraine's partners "not to wait any longer and to increase pressure on Russia."

"If this had happened earlier, there would already have been results from the Istanbul meetings," the Foreign Ministry representative emphasized.

• The second round of talks between Ukraine and Russia took place in Istanbul on June 2. The meeting resulted in an agreement, in particular, on a new exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers.
• On the same day, Russian propagandists published the so-called memorandum that the Russian Federation had handed over to Ukraine during the negotiations.
• Russian Deputy Security Council Chairman Medvedev made a statement about the "real goal" of the Istanbul talks. Republican Senator Graham said that Russia had made it clear that it was not interested in peace.