Russia has said it will send a delegation to Istanbul on Monday for second-round peace talks with Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s conditions for a temporary ceasefire have been formulated and will be discussed in Türkiye.
Ukraine says it is committed to the dialogue, but will not send a delegation until details of Russia’s ceasefire proposal are received.
The first talks between the low-level Russian and Ukrainian delegations took place earlier this month, resulting in hundreds of prisoners returning in the largest exchange since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibikh said Ukraine has already sent its own “vision of future steps” to Russia, adding that Moscow “must accept an unconditional ceasefire.”
“I hope to end the war this year, so I’m interested to see these meetings continue,” Sibiha said on Friday at a joint press conference with Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.
As talks progress on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky are not scheduled to attend.
However, Fidan said Turkey would like to hold a high-level summit in the end.
Peskov said Russia will entertain the idea of a high-level summit only if meaningful progress is achieved in the preliminary debate between the two countries.
He welcomed comments by Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, with retired General Keith Kellogg describing Russia’s concerns over the expansion of NATO as “fair.”
General Kellogg said Ukraine was not on the table to join the military alliance long hoped by Kiev.
He added that President Trump has been “frustrated” with what he described as Russia’s incompatibility, but emphasized the need to keep negotiations alive.
On Wednesday, Germany’s new Prime Minister Friedrich Merz told Ukraine’s Zelensky that Berlin would help Kiev produce long-range missiles to protect him from future Russian attacks.
The Kremlin said the decision to end restrictions on the scope of missiles that Ukraine can use represents a dangerous policy change that would harm efforts to end the war.
Moscow currently controls 20% of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, including Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
