Latest news with #peaceTalks
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Russian strike on Ukraine's Odesa kills two, wounds 14
A Russian drone strike on Ukraine's southern region of Odesa killed two people and wounded 14, including children, local authorities said on Saturday. Moscow has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine. Peace talks initiated by the United States to end the three-year conflict have meanwhile stalled. 'Rescuers pulled the bodies of two people from the rubble who died as a result of a hostile drone strike on a residential building,' Odesa Governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram. The night-time strike wounded 14 people, Kiper added, 'three of them children.' Separately, authorities of Ukraine's southern Kherson region said one person was killed and three others were wounded in Russian strikes over the past day. 'Russian troops targeted critical and social infrastructure and residential areas in the region,' the Kherson's governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram early on Saturday. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia's offensive, which has forced millions from their homes and devastated much of eastern Ukraine. At peace talks, Russia has demanded Ukraine cede even more land and give up Western military support as a precondition to peace -- terms Kyiv says are unacceptable.
CNA
2 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Putin says Russia, Ukraine peace proposals contradictory
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (Jun 27) that Russia and Ukraine's demands for peace were "absolutely contradictory", after two rounds of peace talks failed to bring the sides closer to an elusive ceasefire. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators swapped memorandums outlining their visions for how to end the three-year conflict at peace talks in Istanbul this month. But other than large-scale prisoner exchanges, the talks have failed to result in any progress toward ending the fighting, triggered by Russia launching its military offensive in February 2022. "As for the memorandums, as expected, nothing surprising happened, these are two absolutely contradictory memorandums," Putin said at a press conference in Minsk, Belarus. "That is why negotiations are being organised and conducted, in order to find a path to bringing them closer together," he said. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia's offensive, which has forced millions from their homes and devastated much of eastern Ukraine. At the talks, Russia has demanded Ukraine cede even more land and give up Western military support as a precondition to peace, terms Kyiv says are unacceptable. Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire and has escalated his aerial attacks as his army advances across the battlefield, capturing more territory beyond the five Ukrainian regions Russia claims to have annexed. He said the two sides would "continue further contact" after prisoner exchanges agreed at the Jun 2 talks had been completed. The two sides have conducted several swaps since agreeing to each free more than 1,000 captured soldiers, all wounded, ill or under 25. Russia is also ready to hand over the bodies of 3,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers, Putin said. He also acknowledged some economic pressure from the military campaign, which has seen Russia massively increase its spending on weapons and soldiers. "6.3 per cent of Russia's GDP goes on defence needs. That is 13.5 trillion rubles (US$172 billion)," Putin said. "It is a lot," Putin said, acknowledging it had the potential to create headaches for the government budget. "We paid for it with inflation, but now we are fighting this inflation," he added. At the press conference following a meeting with allies in Belarus, Putin also denounced the "aggressive" pledge by NATO members to increase their defence spending to five per cent of GDP.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia ready for new talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is prepared for a third round of negotiations with Kiev, adding that the talks should center on proposed agreements to resolve the Ukraine conflict. The president made the remarks on Friday in Minsk, following a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. Asked by reporters how the settlement process was progressing – and when a third round of talks with Ukraine might take place – Putin said the heads of both negotiating teams remain in constant contact, speaking regularly by phone. He added that draft proposals from both Russia and Ukraine should form the basis of the next round of negotiations, the time and venue for which still need to be agreed on. 'These are two completely opposing documents. But that's exactly what negotiations are for – to look for ways to bridge the gap. The fact that they're polar opposites isn't surprising in my view,' Putin said. 'I'd rather not go into details, because I believe it's neither appropriate nor helpful to get ahead of the negotiations themselves.' During the previous round of direct negotiations in Istanbul earlier this month, Russian and Ukrainian representatives exchanged draft memorandums outlining their respective visions for a road map toward a peace deal and agreed to exchange prisoners of war. Moscow also unilaterally decided to repatriate the bodies of slain Ukrainian troops as a humanitarian gesture. Since then, Moscow has handed over 6,000 bodies to Kiev and is ready to return nearly 3,000 more, Putin said. 'But it's now up to the Ukrainian side to accept the remains of their fallen soldiers,' he added. 'We agreed that once this stage is completed, we would hold a third round of negotiations. Overall, we're ready – we just need to agree on the time and place.' Putin thanked his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for supporting the negotiation process, saying he expects Ankara to maintain its stance. 'We're ready to hold the meeting in Istanbul,' he added.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Turkey-PKK conflict: Hope, fear and anger for families waiting for war to end
When the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced last month that it would disband and end its decades-long insurgency against Turkey, Leila hoped she might soon be reunited with her years ago, the former sandwich seller left home to join the group - proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, UK and EU - in the remote Qandil Mountains, near Iraq's border with Iran. Apart from two videos he's sent, the last in March, Leila hasn't seen him since."When I first heard about the announcement I was very happy," says Leila, whose name we have changed because she fears reprisals from the group. "But as time has passed, nothing has changed."For 40 years the PKK has been at war with Turkey in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people, many of them civilians, and is one of the longest-running in the families the BBC spoke to bitterly condemned the PKK, while others spoke proudly of how family members had died fighting for the group and felt this sacrifice had paved the way for peace PKK's announcement that it would stop fighting was seen as a historic moment for Turkey, its Kurdish minority, and neighbouring countries into which the conflict has spilled since then, no formal peace process with Turkey has begun and there is no official ceasefire in place, with reports of killing continuing on both sides. Initially set up with the aim of fighting for an independent Kurdish state in Turkey, the PKK has, since the 1990s, shifted focus to demand greater cultural and political autonomy for the who lives in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which borders Turkey, says she hadn't even heard of the PKK until her son, an Iraqi-Kurd in his twenties, came home one day talking about the group's accuses the group of "brainwashing" her son, convincing him they were defending the ethnic Kurdish minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East but do not have a nation says over time her son started to become more independent, making his bed, washing his clothes and doing the dishes. She now believes the PKK was preparing him for the tough life he would soon be living in the the day he left, he came home with three "comrades" to tell his mother he was going to the mountains to begin six months of says she repeatedly tried to dissuade him from joining the PKK but he was determined to go."He was so determined. Arguing with him would have been of no use."Since then, Leila says she has regularly visited the Qandil Mountains in the hope of catching a glimpse of her son, but has never seen him."If they just let me see him once a year, I would be happy," she says. The BBC travelled to the Qandil Mountains, having been granted rare access by the PKK to film mountains, which are sparsely populated and known for their natural beauty, help shield thousands of PKK fighters from Turkish air journey took hours of driving up narrow, bumpy roads, in an area where there are few signs of inhabitation apart from a handful of farmers and the BBC approached a PKK checkpoint, we saw large pictures of the group's leader and founding member Abdullah Ocalan - imprisoned by Turkey in solitary confinement since 1999 - displayed across the mountains. But when the BBC reached the checkpoint, the PKK denied us were later told by PKK authorities that talks are underway with the group and they did not want media did not say what the talks were about, though Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Mohammed Hussein last month told the BBC discussions would be taking place with the PKK, Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to discuss how the group's weapons will be handed over. Disarmament 'not up for discussion' So far, the terms of a possible peace deal between Turkey and the PKK are PKK told the BBC in a written statement that it is sincere and serious about the process, insisting its leader, Ocalan, must be freed."The ball is now in Turkey's court. A peace process cannot develop based on unilateral steps," said Zagros Hiwa, the spokesman for the PKK-linked Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of regional Kurdish in a possible sign of the hurdles ahead, a senior local commander, who's part of the second line of leadership within the group in Iraq, told the BBC in a written statement that in his view disarmament is "not up for discussion".Still suspicious about Turkey's intentions, he adds that "when we address the reasons of the armed conflict, weapons will be of no use for both sides".Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's apparent willingness to bring an end to the conflict with the PKK has been interpreted by some as a bid to attract Kurdish support for a new constitution to extend his 22-year-rule, which he has described the PKK's decision to disband as an important step towards "our goal of a Turkey without terrorism".Writing on X, the Turkish president said a new era was about to begin after "the elimination of terror and violence". For some families whose loved ones were killed fighting for the PKK, the idea the conflict might soon end is Takoor was 21 when he was killed two years ago. His sister, Rondek Takoor, who lives in Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, last saw him in the Qandil Mountains in from the family home, where photos of Kawa adorn the living room walls, Rondek says her brother's death changed the family's life. "I always dream about him," she says with tearful who is in her twenties, still remembers the last conversation they had together."I asked him if he would like to go back home with me and he said 'never'. He even asked me to join him in the mountains," she Rondek and her family, who are pro-PKK, the group disbanding would be both a moment of "pride and pain, especially after our huge loss".She believes that "it's the sacrifices we've made and the martyrs we've lost, that paved the way for leaders to talk peace". What happens next is are questions about what would happen to thousands of Turkish PKK fighters and whether they would be allowed to reintegrate into Turkish officials have yet to say whether these fighters will be treated as criminals and face prosecution. But Turkish media reports have suggested fighters who haven't committed crimes in Turkey could return without fear of prosecution, though PKK leaders might be forced into exile to other countries or required to stay in is also unclear what the group disbanding would mean for other Kurdish groups, notably in north-east Syria, which Turkey regards as being off-shoots of the PKK. During the Syrian civil war, Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched a series of offensives to capture border areas held by a Syrian Kurdish militia called the People's Protection Units (YPG).The YPG dominates an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces, which drove the Islamic State group out of a quarter of Syria with the help of a US-led multinational YPG says it is a distinct entity from the PKK, but Turkey rejects that and proscribes it as a terrorist has said the PKK's decision to disband should "cover all extensions of the organisation in Northern Iraq, Syria and Europe". SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said the PKK's decision would "pave the way for a new political and peaceful process in the region". However, he has also said that the PKK's disarmament does not apply to the SDF, which signed a separate deal to merge with the Syrian armed forces in Iran, the PJAK group, which is also part of the KCK, has told BBC Turkish that it supports the "new process" in Turkey, but that it is not planning to disarm or disband is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and Iran. There has been a de facto ceasefire between the group and the Iranian government since says the PJAK is the Iranian arm of the PKK, but the Kurdish groups deny this. 'This city has brought me nothing but pain' For mothers like Leila, all the complexities of politics and the intricate balance of military powers across the region are irrelevant. What she cares about is having her son with her again."He will come back home when he gets tired of the harsh life in the mountains, at some point he will realise that he can take it no more."If this happens, Leila plans to leave their home city where her son was recruited by the PKK."This city has brought me nothing but pain."
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
No date yet for next round of Ukraine peace talks: Kremlin
The Kremlin said on Thursday there was no progress yet towards setting a date for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported. Another agency, TASS, quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Russia was in favor of continued US efforts to mediate. Resuming negotiations after a gap of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers. But they have made no progress towards a ceasefire which Ukraine, with Western backing, has been pressing for.
