Russia, Ukraine delegations hold first peace talks in 3 years

Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years on Friday gathering in Istanbul for Turkishbrokered negotiations but officials and observers expected them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than threeyear warA Ukrainian delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov sat down with a lowlevel Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky according to Ukrainersquos Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi The officials present sat around a Ushaped table with the Russians and Ukrainians facing each otherA senior Ukrainian official close to the talks said that Kyivrsquos delegation was prepared to ldquoachieve a lotrdquo and with a real mandate to resolve key issues The official said the outcome hinges on whether Moscow is equally seriousBoth countries have tried to persuade US President Donald Trump who has expressed frustration over the slow progress and threatened to punish footdragging that they are eager to resolve the conflict amid extensive diplomatic maneuveringThe latest push to end the fighting got off to a rocky start on Thursday when Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to meet facetoface Delegations from the two countries also flew to different Turkish cities and put together teams of significantly different diplomatic heft for possible talksMeantime Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive Ukrainian government and Western military analysts sayTrump interventionThe two sides are far apart in their conditions for ending the war and Trump said Thursday during a trip to the Middle East that a meeting between himself and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock On Friday Trump said a meeting with Putin would happen ldquoas soon as we can set it up I think itrsquos time for us to just do itrdquoComments on Friday by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov appeared to indicate that momentum for a summit is building but it would take time Ukraine has accepted a US and European proposal for a full 30day ceasefire but Putin has effectively rejected it by imposing farreaching conditionsFlurry of diplomatic activityUkrainian officials held an earlymorning meeting with national security advisers from the US France Germany and the UK to coordinate positions a senior Ukrainian official said The US team was led by retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg Trumprsquos special envoy to Ukraine and Russia while Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and presidential office chief Andriy Yermak represented UkraineA threeway meeting between Turkey the US and Ukraine also took place The US side included Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as KelloggEU leaders meetUkrainrsquos President Zelensky skipped talks in Istanbul and joined the leaders of 47 European countries and organisations for a oneday summit in Albaniarsquos capital on Friday to discuss security and defence challenges across the continentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params