Russia agrees to Istanbul talks with Ukraine
Talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul have so far failed to make progress towards a ceasefire. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP
Russia has agreed to hold a fresh round of talks with Ukraine over the war it launched more than three years ago.
The Russian delegation expects the main part of the negotiations to be held in Istanbul on Wednesday, news agency Interfax reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had announced the date on Monday, but the Kremlin has yet to officially confirm it, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov merely confirming that negotiations would be held in Istanbul, the site of two rounds of previous direct talks since May.
The meeting would focus on advancing the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war and children abducted by Russia, as well as preparing a meeting at the presidential level, he wrote on X.
"We are also continuing other efforts to secure the release of our people - both military personnel and civilians."
The Russian delegation is again to be led by presidential adviser and former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, according to the Kremlin spokesman.
The Ukrainian team is set to be led by former defence minister Rustem Umerov, who has since been appointed head of the National Security and Defence Council.
Zelenskiy said that detailed ceasefire talks are not on the agenda for the next round of negotiations with Russia.
"We need more momentum in the negotiations to end the war," Zelenskiy told Kiev diplomats on Monday, explaining his insistence on a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Results could only be expected from discussions at the highest level, he said.
Moscow, meanwhile, insists that position papers on possible paths to peace, previously exchanged by the warring parties, are to be discussed at the third round of negotiations.
However, Kremlin spokesman Peskov also dampened expectations, saying that "major diplomatic work" would be required to reach rapprochement regarding a ceasefire.
While Kiev insists on an unconditional ceasefire to allow for negotiations to end the conflict, Russia has been sticking to its maximum demands, including the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the eastern regions illegally annexed by Russia.
So far, the Kremlin has been resisting Zelenskiy's demand for a meeting with Putin, arguing that such a high-level encounter takes time to prepare in order to be successful.
Ukraine and Russia began holding direct talks for the first time in over three years in May. So far, the negotiations have resulted in a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war, with soldiers under the age of 25 and severely wounded combatants released most recently.
Russia says it has so far released the bodies of 7000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers as part of the deal. There are no official figures on the number of released soldiers.
Meanwhile on the ground, a child was killed in heavy Russian airstrikes on Ukraine overnight, Kramatorsk Mayor Alexander Goncharenko reported on Tuesday.
The 10-year-old boy died when guided glide bombs hit a residential building in the eastern Ukrainian city, Goncharenko wrote on Facebook. Five other people were injured, he said.
Kramatorsk is part of a metropolitan area in Donetsk that remains under Ukrainian control three years after the start of Russia's war.
However, the front has moved so close that the Russian military can now attack the city with heavy glide bombs, which have a range of up to 40km.
Moscow annexed the Donetsk region, as well as Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson, a few months after the outbreak of war and demands Ukraine's complete withdrawal from these areas.
In the north-eastern city of Sumy, three people including a child were injured in bomb attacks, according to the civil protection agency.
Five apartment buildings, a shopping centre and more than a dozen vehicles were damaged it said.
A few weeks ago, Putin announced his intention to create a "buffer zone" in the region, effectively by occupying the Ukrainian border areas.
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