Russian and Ukrainian delegations were meeting in Istanbul for a new round of face-to-face peace talks on Tuesday, nearly five weeks after Russia launched an invasion that has devastated towns and cities across the country and caused nearly 4 million people to flee, reports news agency MIA.
The representatives were meeting at the Dolmabahce Presidential Office, on the banks of the Bosphorus, for their first in-person talks in more than two weeks.
There were low expectations for a breakthrough. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the participants, who were seated across from each other at a long table. Erdogan said he hoped that the talks would lead to an early ceasefire.
He said both sides have “legitimate concerns” and that he believed an internationally binding deal was possible, adding that they have a “historical responsibility” to pave the way for lasting peace.
Erdogan once again appealed for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to come to the table themselves.
He said that perhaps Tuesday’s meeting could bring about such a meeting. Ankara maintains good relations with Moscow and Kiev and sees itself as a mediator.
The Turkish leader has been in contact with both Putin and Zelensky. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior advisor to Zelensky, tweeted while at the talks that Kiev is seeking “unconditional security guarantees for Ukraine” along with a “ceasefire, effective decisions on humanitarian corridors and humanitarian convoys.” He wrote that the negotiations would be “difficult.”
The negotiators from Ukraine and Russia have already met three times in the border area of Belarus, with further talks conducted during the past two weeks via video link. Little progress to end the war was made. Kiev wants a withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees.
Moscow is demanding Ukraine renounce attempts to join NATO, recognize breakaway eastern Ukrainian separatist regions as independent and recognize the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as part of Russia. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is at the Istanbul talks, a Turkish presidential official told dpa.
The owner of the Chelsea football club was slapped with British and EU sanctions as part of the Western response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During the past month, the influential oligarch has been shuttling between venues and cities to try and end the war. Abramovich was reportedly among several people who suffered symptoms consistent with chemical weapons poisoning after an earlier round of talks, the Wall Street Journal and the investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat reported on Monday.
Podolyak, the advisor to Zelensky, denied the report that Abramovich and two Ukrainian peace negotiators were poisoned in Kiev earlier this month. Despite the denial, the Ukrainian side expressed concern about their own safety at Tuesday’s talks.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he advised “anyone going through negotiations with the Russian Federation not to eat or drink anything, and preferably avoid touching any surface,” according to Sky News. Meanwhile, Russia continued its hostilities against Ukraine. In the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv, the regional administration building was attacked by the Russian army, presumably with a missile.
According to the local civil defence, three people were killed and at least 22 others injured in Tuesday’s attack.
“They hit my study, the bastards,” regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.
He showed a photo of a huge hole and debris in the administration building, as well as a recording from a surveillance camera showing the suspected missile.
Fifty to 100 staff members were in the building at the time and had had managed to get out safely, he said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said airstrikes have destroyed 68 Ukrainian military objects since Monday.
Among them were anti-aircraft missile systems, two ammunition depots and three fuel depots. Three drones were also destroyed.
It is impossible to independently verify information from either side. Russia claims it is only targeting military sites, even though there are daily confirmed reports of the destruction of bridges, schools, hospitals and residential neighbourhoods.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimated that 18 million people could need humanitarian aid in Ukraine, or about one-third of the population.
Since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the United Nations and its partner agencies have been able to provide aid to only 900,000 people in need, according to the UN emergency response office OCHA. The UN counts 3.9 million people having fled Ukraine so far.
Polish police said on Tuesday that 2.35 million people have crossed the border, with 21,000 more arriving on Monday alone.
There is no official information on how many of the war refugees have stayed in Poland and how many have already travelled on to other EU states. Later on Tuesday, Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron were schedule to speak by phone.
