At the heart of the Ukrainian proposal was a commitment to maintain the kind of military neutrality that Moscow is pursuing in exchange for a security system for Ukraine guaranteed by international partners, including the United States, Turkey and others. The Ukrainian negotiators likened the offer to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which ensures the collective defense of the alliance. The guarantors – including European countries, Canada and Israel – would provide military assistance and weapons to Ukraine if attacked, negotiators said. Ukraine, in turn, would ensure that it remains “non-aligned and non-nuclear”, while retaining the right to join the European Union. The story goes on under the ad The Ukrainian proposal also offered a 15-year timetable for negotiations with Russia on the status of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator, later described the talks to reporters as “substantial.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu said “the most significant progress since the start of negotiations took place today”. The reactions of the United States to the events of the day were mixed. Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken has expressed skepticism about the talks in Turkey, saying Moscow’s ongoing military offensive leaves little room for optimism. “There is what Russia says and what Russia does: We are focused on the latter, and what Russia is doing is the brutal behavior of Ukraine and its people,” Blinken told a joint news conference with his Moroccan counterpart. in Rabat. Moroccan capital. The story goes on under the ad However, a senior Pentagon staffer who oversees US troops in Europe told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that there were signs of a “dynamic change” on the ground near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, which seems to confirm that some Russian area withdrawn back. The change in Russia’s stance comes after Ukrainian forces attacked several parts of the country. Ukrainian officials said Monday they had recaptured Irpin, a suburb of Kiev. In Istanbul, delegations from Ukraine and Russia arrived at convoys at Dolmabahce Palace around 9 a.m. local time. Addressing the delegates, Erdogan expressed hope that the talks would lead to a ceasefire, saying “everyone is expecting good news from you.” Turkey, which for many reasons, including economic ones, depends on close relations with both Moscow and Kyiv, has entered the middle of negotiations to end the war. The story goes on under the ad Ahead of Tuesday’s talks, Russia and Ukraine had sought to dampen hopes for significant progress, following high-level talks in southwestern Turkey this month and weeks of videotaped talks failing to reach an agreement. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told local media on Monday that Kiev’s goal was – at best – a “sustainable” ceasefire. Meanwhile, his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow should “stop indulging” in Kyiv. Outside the palace, the body of the international press, barred from the meeting room, crowded into a narrow sidewalk, perched with laptops in the bushes and watching delegate convoys rolling in as they waited for news dribbles. Inside the room, the sight of Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch facing sanctions in Europe, added to the intrigue surrounding the process: A day earlier, an Abramovich associate said the oligarch suspected he had been poisoned in a previous round of talks. members of the Ukrainian delegation. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the alleged incident. Russian President Dmitry Peshkov’s spokesman dismissed it in a teleconference with reporters Tuesday as “part of the information sabotage” of the West. But in comments to a Ukrainian news channel, Kuleba advised anyone in the negotiations “not to eat or drink anything and preferably avoid touching any surface.” The story goes on under the ad Speaking to reporters early Tuesday afternoon, Ukrainian officials said any agreement reached with Moscow would be subject to a referendum. Some of the most thorny issues, including the status of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, will have to be resolved by the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, they said. However, Ukrainian negotiators suggested on Tuesday that the events of the day gave a possible way forward. Oleksandr Chaly, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said talks with Russia would continue for the next two weeks. Consultations have already begun with the guarantor countries, which could be called upon to send representatives to the upcoming negotiations, he said. After the Ukrainian and Russian leaders reached a “final agreement”, they will hold a multilateral conference, where an agreement will be signed, Chaly said. He said “senior executives from the guarantor countries” would attend the conference. Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine, and Lamothe from Washington. John Hudson in Rabat, Morocco and Annabelle Timsit and Zeynep Karatas in Istanbul contributed to this exhibition.
