Ukraine and the world still do not have clear information about what Russia wants to go to Istanbul with – Zelenskyy

Ukraine and its partners still do not have clear information about what proposals the Russian delegation plans to bring to Istanbul. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in an evening address.

"At the moment, there is no clear information about what the Russians are planning to do in Istanbul. We don't have it, Turkey doesn't have it, the United States doesn't have it, and other partners don't either. And so far, it doesn't look very serious," the head of state said.

Zelenskyy noted that he discussed this during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 30 : "Of course, everyone in the world wants diplomacy to work and for a real ceasefire to happen. Everyone wants Russia to stop playing with diplomacy and end the war. Everyone wants a serious peace, and Russia should go for it."

The Head of State believes that this is exactly what the agenda of the meetings should be and noted that Ukraine has already provided its position on steps towards a ceasefire.

The President noted that Ukraine is counting on the US's determination on the issue of sanctions to help peace: "So far, we are only seeing new Russian strikes and new Russian assaults."

Zelenskyy also reported that Ukraine is preparing for new diplomatic steps together with partners in Europe and the United States, noting that "in fact, every day we are in touch with everyone who can make diplomacy meaningful."

"Next week, we are preparing agreements with the Baltic and Northern European countries. We are also filling our summits with content – the G7 and NATO summits, which will take place soon. We are also actively working with everyone who can strengthen sanctions against Russia and who supports such very important decisions. Ukraine will not simply wait for Russia to mature before ending the war. We are doing everything to make Russia's coercion for peace work," the head of state concluded.

• The Kremlin promised to present a "memorandum" with its vision of steps towards a ceasefire immediately after the major prisoner exchange that ended on May 25, but has not yet done so. Meanwhile, Kyiv has already handed over its document to Moscow.
• On May 29, it became known that the next meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations could take place on June 2 in Istanbul. The composition of the Russian delegation will not change.
• Ukraine consistently emphasizes that in order to hold a meaningful meeting, it needs to receive a "memorandum" from Russia in advance, while the aggressor country wants to show the document directly at the meeting.