Funeral of a man murdered by Russians in Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv
Photo: EPA / Ansa Brazil
More than 20 days after the last round of talks in Istanbul, Russia handed Ukraine its proposals to end the war between the two countries.
Kyiv formalized its demands in late March when it pledged not to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) but as long as it had a clear path to joining the European Union and security guarantees from international powers.
“Ukraine presented its proposals at the negotiations in Istanbul. The Russian side examined them and presented their own position. Now it is up to us to consider, compare and draw conclusions, both political and legal,” said Mikhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in Kyiv that “the ball is now in play”. However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that there was no more “trust” in Ukrainian negotiators.
The tenor of Moscow’s reaction to Ukraine is not yet known, but the negotiations would not yet include the fate of Donbass, the eastern region home to the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts.
Russia claims sovereignty over the entire Donbass, which would pave the way for its future annexation, as Crimea did, but Ukraine is demanding that its territorial integrity be preserved.
Eastern Ukraine is now the main stage of the war, with a broad Russian and separatist offensive to expand their influence in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.