UNITED NATIONS (Dispatches) - Russia is prepared to consider a ceasefire in Ukraine to pave the way for a lasting settlement, but during any truce Moscow wants Western states to stop arming Kyiv and for Ukraine to stop mobilizing troops, Russia’s UN ambassador said on Friday.
However, Vassily Nebenzia told the UN Security Council that a simple ceasefire was not enough to end Moscow’s more than three-year war in Ukraine.
“To achieve a sustainable and lasting settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, we need to address its root causes,” Nebenzia said. “What we’re proposing is a second round of talks in Istanbul this coming Monday ... where we can exchange memoranda about both parties’ approaches to the negotiations process.”
The United States wants Russia to agree to a comprehensive 30-day land, air, sea and critical infrastructure ceasefire. A first round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine on May 16 failed to yield a truce deal.
A U.S. diplomat told the Security Council on Friday: “We share the concern expressed by other members of this council that Russia could be uninterested in peace and instead bent on achieving a military victory.”
Moscow initially said its combat mission was to “disarm” Ukraine so it could not be a threat to Russia, and “denazify” it by rooting out leaders it characterized as nationalists.
On Friday, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said expects Russia and Ukraine to discuss the list of conditions for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine next week in Istanbul, its, praising the U.S. role in mediating the talks.
Russia has proposed holding the second round of talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2. However, Ukraine wants to see Russia’s proposals for a peace deal before it sends a delegation to Turkey, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Friday.
Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and would be ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning.
“At the moment, everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed,” Peskov told reporters. He said the details of the memorandum will not be published.
Reuters reported earlier this week that Putin’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said earlier on Friday that Russia’s concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.