Istanbul Reportedly Stays Host, Russia-Ukraine Negotiations Continued This Week?

Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey. (Twitter/@HakanFidan)

JAKARTA - Istanbul, Turkey is rumored to remain host, as Ukraine and Russia are likely to resume peace negotiations this week.

A source familiar with the negotiations said Istanbul would remain the host of the latest rounds of Russia-Ukraine negotiations after two rounds of previous negotiations.

"Yes, Istanbul is an acceptable place," said the source, answering questions about the place of negotiations to TASS as quoted on July 20.

Kremlin officials previously said several times that they were waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side regarding the continuation of negotiations with Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that the Ukrainian delegation had invited Russia to hold the next round of negotiations next week.

According to him, the proposal was submitted by Rustem Umerov, secretary of the Ukraine National Security and Defense Council as well as head of the Kyiv delegation to the Istanbul negotiations.

"Secretary of the Umerov National Security and Defense Council said he had invited the Russian side to hold the next meeting next week. Negotiations need to be accelerated," he said in a video speech posted on his Telegram channel.

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was calling on international partners to pressure Ukraine to continue peace negotiations.

He also dismissed that negotiations between the two countries were said to have developed, again emphasizing that Russia was waiting for a date proposal from Ukraine regarding the next round of negotiations, after two rounds of previous negotiations.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova previously stated that the Moscow delegation was ready to leave for Istanbul for the third round of negotiations with Ukraine.

Zakharova expressed her hope that Kyiv would act according to the spirit of the agreement that had been reached "and would continue the negotiation process."

Russia is known to have launched a special military operation on Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022. Negotiations between the two countries were carried out in March 2022 in Belarus and Turkey, but no agreement has yet been reached.

In April, US President Steve Witkoff's special envoy was found to have met President Putin twice.

This year, the two countries have held two rounds of live negotiations, the first at the Dolmabache Palace on May 16 and the second at the Ciragan Palace on June 2, both in Istanbul, Turkey, to end the war between the two countries.

After the initial negotiations in June, Russia and Ukraine agreed to hold the next round of negotiations. Peskov said Moscow hopes that the next round date can be agreed upon soon.