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Russian negotiators will be waiting for their Ukrainian counterparts in Istanbul, Turkiye from 10 a.m. on Friday, said the head of Russia’s delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, the Russian TASS state news agency reported.
"Tomorrow morning, literally from 10 a.m., we will be waiting for the Ukrainian side, which should arrive for the meeting. We are ready for work," he said, according to TASS.
Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin earlier on May 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited the Kiev authorities to resume without any preliminary conditions the direct talks they broke off in 2022. He proposed to start the talks on May 15 in Istanbul.
A source familiar with the situation said the talks are expected to start on May 16, according to TASS.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he will send a Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul, headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, for talks with the Russian delegation, despite his frustration with what he described as the low level of the Moscow delegation. The talks would involve Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., and Turkiye, he said.
The Ukrainian delegation's goal is "to attempt at least the first steps toward de-escalation, the first steps toward ending the war, namely, a ceasefire," Zelensky said, as quoted by Newsweek.