Russia expects to address major issues in upcoming talks with Ukraine

Moscow, May 14 (IANS) Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Wednesday that the Russian delegation is expected to address political and technical issues during the upcoming talks with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday.

"The delegation needs to address both political and, I'd say, a billion of technical issues. So the composition of the delegation will be determined based on that," the official said, addressing a reporter of a Russian Television network.

Ushakov further mentioned that Moscow's proposal is to resume the 2022 talks that were suspended by the Ukrainian side at the urging of Western colleagues and partners. He however, did not answer whether he himself is a part of the Russian delegation.

Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin in the early hours of May 11, Putin proposed to the Kyiv authorities to resume direct talks suspended in 2022, without preconditions.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials will be present at Thursday's Istanbul talks on Ukraine.

“Marco [Rubio] is going to be going there, others are going to be going, and we'll see if we can get it done,” he said while addressing a bilateral investment forum in Saudi Arabia.

“Very importantly, talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could produce some pretty good results,” the US leader said, without elaborating.

A White House spokesperson also told reporters that Rubio will be accompanied by the US President’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Tuesday said that Russia and the United States continue to maintain contact on Ukraine, but are not coordinating on the upcoming Istanbul talks.

“The Americans are well aware of our position. We remain in contact. However, this is not the word (coordination) to use in this particular case," Russian state-run news agency TASS quoted the minister as saying.

President Putin proposed to launch the dialogue with Ukraine on May 15 in Istanbul. He further recalled that Russia had declared ceasefires more than once, but all of them, including the latest three-day truce on account of the Victory Day celebration were violated by the Kyiv regime.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday expressed willingness to hold discussions with his Russian counterpart Putin, to end the ongoing conflict between both nations. The statement came shortly after President Trump called on Ukraine to immediately agree to the negotiations proposed by the Russian leader. Before that, Zelensky conditioned talks with Moscow on a 30-day ceasefire.

--IANS

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