Erdoğan addresses negotiators from Russia, Ukraine as talks start in İstanbul

Turkey is ready to host the presidents of the two countries, Erdoğan said at the meeting where Roman Abramovich is also spotted.

İstanbul

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine arrived in İstanbul yesterday (March 28) for a new round of peace talks between Moscow as the Russia's war on Ukraine has continued for over a month.

A private plane carrying the delegation from Moscow landed at istanbul's Ataturk Airport at around 4 p.m. local time (GMT+3) while the Ukraine's delegation arrived in İstanbul at around 10 p.m., Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

The two-day peace talks, to be held at the presidential Dolmabahçe office in the Beşiktaş district, started at 10.30 a.m. local time.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Roman Abramovich, an oligarch of Russia who has close relations with the country president, Vladimir Putin, are also attending the meeting, showed photographs shared by the international media.

The latest round of Ukraine-Russia peace talks are underway in Istanbul.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, Putin’s unofficial mediator, is onsite, seen here chatting to Erdogan at the start. pic.twitter.com/o0jd4bspLp
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 29, 2022

"Turkey is ready to host the presidents"

Addressing the negotiation teams, Erdoğan said, "We believe that a just peace will have no losers, and a prolonged conflict is not in anyone's interest."

Turkey is ready to host a meeting between the presidents of the two countries, he added.

Ahead of the meeting, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a local television channel that according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's instructions, the Ukrainian side will not negotiate on people, land and sovereignty.

Kuleba said that during the talks, the minimum demand will be to resolve humanitarian issues and the maximum demand would be a cease-fire.

Security guarantees, he said, would have to be followed by a referendum in Ukraine.

Kuleba noted that the issue of holding a referendum will not be discussed in the negotiations in Turkiye and that this is an internal matter of Ukraine.

Several rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been held in Belarus so far, with no results achieved yet.

On March 10, foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine held a tripartite meeting in Antalya, southern Turkey.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine

On February 24, explosions were reported in several Ukrainian provinces, including the capital Kyiv, after Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' in the Donbas region.

Tensions had started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine. They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, which was consistently rejected by Moscow.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states in late February, followed by the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people "subjected to genocide" by Kyiv and to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.

At least 1,119 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and more than 1,700 others have been injured, according to the UN estimates.

More than 3.8 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries, with over 6.5 million more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency.

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