Ukraine has sent its proposal to Russia ahead of peace talks
Ukraine’s memorandum ahead of the next round of direct negotiations with Russia calls for an internationally observed ceasefire, the New York Times has reported, citing an anonymous senior official. Moscow has consistently maintained that any ceasefire should not be used by Kiev to rearm its forces.
The two sides last met for direct talks in Istanbul on May 16, marking the first formal negotiations since 2022. The meeting resulted in the largest prisoner exchange to date, with 1,000 POWs released by each side. The parties also agreed to prepare memorandums outlining their positions on a potential ceasefire ahead of the next meeting.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed holding follow-up talks on Monday, June 2, again in Istanbul.
In an article on Friday, the NYT quoted an unnamed source as saying that the Ukrainian document includes “provisions for a cease-fire on land, at sea and in the air, with monitoring to be carried out by international partners.”
The Ukrainian leadership had previously insisted on a 30-day pause in hostilities as a precondition for negotiations. Russia rejected that scenario, arguing that Kiev would use it to regroup its military. The NYT did not mention the timeframe in Kiev’s latest proposal.
Speaking on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga accused Moscow of stalling the negotiations by refusing to share its memorandum ahead of the meeting on Monday.
That same day, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the document “will not be made public.”
Responding to a similar demand made by Ukrainian defense minister and top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, on Wednesday, Peskov dismissed it as “unconstructive.”
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova revealed that Moscow’s memorandum includes the “principles of settlement, a timeframe for a potential peace agreement [and] a potential ceasefire for a certain period of time.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that for a full ceasefire to be achieved, Ukraine must halt mobilization, stop receiving foreign weapons, and withdraw its forces from the territories that became part of Russia following referendums in 2022.
Meanwhile, in an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, urged Kiev to attend the next round of negotiations with Moscow, irrespective of whether or not Russia agrees to share its memorandum beforehand.
Speaking of the Ukrainian document, Kellogg said that he had seen it, revealing that the memorandum includes 22 terms which he characterized as “pretty good” and “reasonable.”
