For the first time since 2022, representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine can sit down at the negotiating table. Vladimir Putin proposed in his address to resume the negotiation process, which was interrupted three years ago in the same place where it took place (in Turkey). His proposal was supported by US President Donald Trump and, with a significant reservation, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. It is not at all obvious that the bloodshed will be stopped as a result. There is only hope for this, which, given the general state of affairs in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, is by no means groundless.
In his address on the night of May 10-11, Vladimir Putin named both the date and the venue of the talks: May 15, Istanbul. “We are ready for serious negotiations with Ukraine. Their purpose is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict, to establish a long-term lasting peace in the historical perspective. We do not rule out that during these negotiations it will be possible to agree on some new truces, on a new cease-fire,” he said, in particular.
On Sunday, Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation. The Russian proposal was discussed there. The Office of Public Relations in the administration of the Turkish president notes that Erdogan agreed in this conversation to receive the delegations of the Russian Federation and Ukraine in his country, while indicating that (quoted by the Anadolu agency) “a comprehensive cease-fire will create the necessary environment for peace talks.”
Here the main contradiction of the positions of the parties appeared. Putin said in his address that a cease-fire should be the result of peace talks, while Zelensky believes that it should be a condition for their start. “There’s no point in continuing to kill even for a day. We are waiting for Russia to confirm the ceasefire – complete, long–lasting, reliable – starting tomorrow, May 12, and Ukraine is ready to meet,” the Ukrainian president wrote on a social network on May 11. The European allies of the United States are in favor of the same thing. As German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “first the weapons must be silenced, then negotiations can begin.” At a meeting on May 10 in Kiev, participants of the so-called coalition of the willing, that is, Western countries planning to send their troops to Ukrainian territory after the establishment of a ceasefire, called on the Russian Federation to extend the truce from May 12 for 30 days. French President Emmanuel Macron said on May 11 that he regards the proposal for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine without a preliminary cessation of hostilities as evidence that the Russian leadership is “looking for a way forward, but it still has a desire to gain time.” A day earlier, at a meeting in Kiev, Macron said that the ceasefire must be complete (on land, in the air and at sea) and unconditional. He and the entire “coalition of the willing” rejected the possibility of suspending the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine for a time when there would be no fighting.
Strangely enough, Trump was in no hurry to join the chorus of those who insisted on a truce as a necessary condition for negotiations. This is despite the fact that the idea of a 30-day ceasefire with the possibility of its indefinite extension belongs specifically to the White House administration. She also insisted on direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine (the time had come for them, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said last week). “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine. Think about the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved, as we hope this endless “bloodbath” will come to an end,” Trump limited himself to such a comment on Putin’s address on his Truth Social network. Later in the same text, he wrote about the “new and much better” world that will result from the peacekeeping process, that he will continue to work with both sides, and about the desire of the United States to focus “on reconstruction and trade,” presumably in relation to the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Trump did not write anything about a truce as a necessary condition for dialogue between the two countries.
Meanwhile, NBC News, citing sources, reports that in the near future, special envoy of the US President Steve Witkoff will present Putin with a list of 22 proposals drawn up in the United States, Europe and Ukraine.
They have a clause on a 30-day cease-fire (it is unclear whether before or after the start of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev). In addition, according to the TV channel, the proposals state the readiness of the United States to commit itself not to support Ukraine’s accession to NATO. The White House has not officially confirmed the existence of this list at the time of signing the issue.
Only not the most important member of Trump’s negotiating team, Special Representative Keith Kellogg, spoke publicly about the possible conditions for ending the conflict. He has a narrow area of responsibility: contacts between the White House and the Ukrainian leadership. In an interview with Fox News, Kellogg said a few days ago that it was planned to create a 30-kilometer demilitarized zone: Ukrainian and Russian troops would withdraw 15 km from the line of contact. The resulting site will be occupied by military “coalitions of the willing.” According to Kellogg, the Ukrainian side allegedly already agrees to implement this entire plan. But on May 10, Zelensky said that Trump’s special representative was wishful thinking. He called the idea of withdrawing troops premature and inanimate. “Even if we talk about 15 km, what will we do with Kherson? This means that our troops will not be in Kherson. If we don’t have our troops in Kherson, we won’t have Kherson either,” Zelensky said. It should also be recalled that representatives of the Russian Federation have repeatedly said that they oppose the deployment of Western troops into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict zone. So, if there is such a condition among those that Witkoff will bring to Moscow, the dialogue on it will be very difficult.
On Sunday, the press did not know who would be negotiating in Istanbul. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the composition of the Russian delegation would be announced when “the president gives the command.” He noted that the negotiation process should proceed taking into account the results of the negotiations interrupted in 2022 and the situation “on the ground.” Recall that three years ago, Russia and Ukraine tried to reach an agreement in Istanbul from March to July. In the end, the parties did not come to any agreement. Since then, there have been no direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.