Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine indicated progress in conflict talks in Turkey on Tuesday, so much so that a future meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy cannot be ruled out.
Due to diplomatic negotiations between the two sides, Russia promised to scale back troops from Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the northern part of the country: the most tangible sign yet of progress towards negotiating an end to the war. But, Russia’s top negotiator later said its promise to reduce military activity did not represent a ceasefire.
Kyiv negotiators, meanwhile, called for an “international” accord to guarantee Ukrainian security. Ukraine proposed adopting a neutral status in a detailed potential settlement to the five-week conflict.
Here are the key points after talks between Russia and Ukraine came to an end in Istanbul:
- Russia’s promise to reduce military activity in Kyiv
Russia has promised to scale down military operations around Kyiv and northern Ukraine as a “confidence-building” step. “In order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (an) agreement, a decision was made to radically, by a large margin, reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions,” said Russian deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin. But Russia has not said anything about areas witnessing heavy fighting, including Mariupol in the southeast, Sumy and Kharkiv in the east and Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south. Experts are saying Russia’s promise to reduce fighting mostly covered areas where it has been losing ground. - Ukraine’s proposal of neutral status, NATO-style security
Ukrainian negotiators said Kyiv will agree not to join alliances or host bases of foreign troops, but will have security guaranteed in terms similar to “Article 5”, the collective defence clause of NATO. The war-hit country named Israel and NATO members Canada, Poland and Turkey as countries that may give such security guarantees. Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy could also be involved. “We will not host foreign military bases on our territory, as well as deploy military contingents on our territory, and we will not enter into military-political alliances,” said Ukrainian negotiator Oleksander Chaly. Military exercises would take place with the consent of the guarantor countries, he added. - Putin-Zelenskyy meeting on the cards?
Ukrainian negotiators also called for a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, with top Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky saying it could take place when foreign ministers were prepared to initiate a peace agreement. Medinsky further said this was the second major de-escalatory step made by Russia apart from the promise to scale back troops. “However, to prepare such an agreement on a mutually acceptable basis, we still have a long way to go,” he added. - De-escalation not ceasefire
While Russia has promised to scale down in Kyiv and northern Ukraine, negotiators from the country said it did not represent a ceasefire, and that talks on a formal agreement with Kyiv have a long way to go. “This is not a ceasefire but this is our aspiration, gradually to reach a de-escalation of the conflict at least on these fronts,” Medinsky said in an interview with the TASS news agency. - Failed military advance on the ground
The Russian invasion has been halted on most fronts by strong resistance, with Ukrainians recapturing territory even as civilians are trapped in besieged cities, such as the southern port city of Mariupol. Also, Russia’s economy has been pummelled due to western sanctions. Ukrainian forces have made advances, recapturing territory from Russian troops on the outskirts of Kyiv, in the northeast, and in the south. Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, however, said Russia had largely completed the first phase of its assault and degraded Ukraine’s military capabilities and will now focus on areas claimed by separatists in the southeast, such as the Donbas region.
(With agency inputs)
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