Ukraine yesterday resisted US and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be “hit hard” by new US sanctions.
US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a further round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals.
“For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X after hosting Turkey’s foreign minister for talks in Kyiv.
“Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,” he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia.
Some Republicans in the US Congress and White House advisers have urged Trump to finally embrace new sanctions on Russia to put pressure on Moscow.
Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv yesterday the Republican-led US Senate is expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week.
Graham, who met Zelenskiy in Kyiv, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the US president expects concrete actions now from Moscow.
Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubts the Istanbul meeting will amount to more than a “Russian charade.”
“The game that Putin has been playing is about to change. He is going to be hit, and hit hard by the United States, when it comes to sanctions,” Graham said.
Trump told reporters yesterday that both Putin and Zelenskiy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire. Trump made no mention of sanctions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning.
“Everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed,” Peskov said.
Reuters reported this week that Putin’s conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging Nato eastwards.
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