A Russian delegation is heading to Istanbul earlier than the newest spherical of peace talks with Ukrainian counterparts, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed, including that he anticipated the negotiations to be “very tough”.
A Ukrainian delegation arrived in Ankara Wednesday for bilateral conferences with Turkish officers forward of the talks with Russia in Istanbul later, a Ukrainian diplomatic supply informed Reuters information company. Kyiv is able to take important steps in the direction of peace and a full ceasefire, the supply added.
The talks, the third iteration in latest months, will likely be held within the Turkish metropolis on Wednesday night, Peskov informed reporters. The assembly, proposed by Ukraine final week amid sustained United States stress to achieve a ceasefire, would be the first between the edges in additional than seven weeks, however expectations of a breakthrough are muted.
“Nobody expects a straightforward street,” Peskov informed reporters.
Earlier rounds of talks have led to a sequence of exchanges of prisoners of warfare and the our bodies of fallen troopers.
However they failed to produce a ceasefire, as Russian negotiators refused to drop hardline calls for that weren’t acceptable to Ukraine, together with ceding 4 Ukrainian areas Russia claims as its personal and rejecting Western navy assist.
No ‘miraculous breakthroughs’ anticipated
Peskov mentioned the talks would cowl the positions outlined in draft memoranda offered by both sides, in addition to prisoner exchanges. On Tuesday, he had said there was no purpose “to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs”, saying such an end result was “hardly potential”.
Rustem Umerov, a former defence minister and present secretary of the Nationwide Safety and Protection Council of Ukraine, will lead Kyiv’s delegation, whereas Russia’s delegation will once more be led by presidential adviser and former tradition minister Vladimir Medinsky.
Ukraine beforehand complained that Medinsky was not an actual decision-maker, accusing Russia of sending officers to the talks who weren’t empowered to make choices to finish the battle.
Zelenskyy outlines modest ambitions
In an announcement posted on social media platform X on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined his nation’s targets from the negotiations.
They didn’t embody talks over an in depth ceasefire settlement, however as a substitute proposed making preparations for a gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which may, in flip, result in an finish to the warfare.
He mentioned Ukraine sought “to safe the discharge of our individuals from captivity and return of kidnapped youngsters, to cease the killings, and to arrange a leaders’ assembly geared toward actually bringing this warfare to an finish”.
“Our place is absolutely clear,” he mentioned. “Ukraine by no means wished this warfare, and it’s Russia that should finish the warfare that it began. “
I held a gathering on the outcomes Ukraine wants from the negotiation efforts.
Secretary of the Nationwide Safety and Protection Council of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, reported on the implementation of the agreements reached on the second assembly with the Russian facet in Istanbul, as… pic.twitter.com/0JQ1fGyaPC
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 22, 2025
In one other assertion on Tuesday, he mentioned work was being carried out to arrange rounds of prisoner exchanges agreed to on the earlier talks with Russia.
“All through this spring and summer season, we’ve managed to considerably intensify the alternate course of,” he mentioned. “Amongst these free of captivity are individuals who had been listed as lacking, in addition to those that have been held in Russian prisons and camps since earlier than the full-scale warfare.”
‘Conserving the dialogue going’
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands mentioned there was no expectation that the talks would “be particularly productive”.
“They’re most definitely going to retread the grounds that earlier rounds of talks have trod, which is actually …facilitating the alternate of prisoners, the handing over of troopers’ stays.”
He mentioned Kyiv was additionally keen to lift the difficulty of the return of kids who had been taken from occupied territories by Russia.
“However I don’t suppose there’s any expectation right here that these talks are going to be any important breakthrough in the direction of peace,” he mentioned.
“It’s prone to be simply conserving the dialogue going and ensuring that there’s progress on a minimum of these small elementary areas.”
Bloodshed continues
The talks are because of be held as Russia continues its bloody offensive in opposition to its neighbour, with its forces mounting sustained efforts to interrupt by at jap and northeastern factors on the 1,000km (620-mile) entrance line.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Defence Ministry mentioned its forces had captured the settlement of Varachyne in Ukraine’s northeast Sumy area, about 6km (3.7 miles) from the border. In latest weeks, Putin introduced his intention to create a “buffer zone” within the Sumy area by occupying Ukrainian border areas.
In different latest violence, Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Kherson killed a 66-year-old lady in a single day, the dpa information company reported, quoting regional navy governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Three individuals, together with two 13-year-olds, have been injured, he mentioned on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Air Drive mentioned Moscow had launched 71 drones and decoys in a single day, of which 45 have been intercepted or introduced down, the company reported.
