“This is an important achievement, and it once again shows that we are configured to complete this war,” the minister emphasized.
As part of another conversation with journalists, which broadcast the Mi -Ukrainian channel, Umarov did not indicate the exact deadlines, but noted that he knew his date and he would take place “in the near future.”
The fact that the parties agreed on the exchange of prisoners was also reported by the head of the Russian negotiation group Vladimir Medinsky and the speaker of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hakan Fidan.
In total, in the framework of the negotiation process and exchanges since March 2022, 4757 Ukrainian citizens were liberated. The last exchange of prisoners of war took place on May 6, then they returned home 205 defenders of Ukraine.
On May 15, the Coordination Headquarters, by dealing with prisoners of war, said that the lists of Ukrainian defenders who are in captivity of the aggressor of the Russian Federation were handed over to the Roman lion of the Russian Federation newly elected pope.
Context
On the night of May 11, after the ultimatum of European countries to stop fire in Ukraine, the illegitimate president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin invited Ukraine to resume direct negotiations on the war “without preliminary conditions “ In Istanbul on May 15.
US President Donald Trump called for Ukraine to immediately agree to a meeting with the Russian Federation. After that, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said: he will wait for Putin in Turkey on May 15. The Kremlin was silent in response, confirming the composition of the delegation only on the night of May 14. The illegitimate President of the Russian Federation did not come to a meeting in Turkey, instead sent a low -level delegation (it was headed by Putin Medinsky’s assistant), which Zelensky called Butaca.
Trump, who at first did not exclude the opportunity to come to Istanbul, after Putin’s refusal to arrive in Turkey said that he “was not going to” go there. “Why would he go if I'm not going? ”Trump said on May 15, answering the question of the absence of the head of the Kremlin in the negotiations.
The President of Ukraine on May 15 in Ankara held negotiations with Turkish President Recep Erdogan and said after the meeting that The Ukrainian delegation will go to Istanbul “out of respect for Trump and Erdogan and wanting to try to achieve at least the first steps to the end of the war.” He headed Ukrainian delegation Head of the Ministry of Defense Rustem Umarov, among the team members – the first deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Sergey Kislitsa.
On May 16, in Istanbul, before negotiations with Russians, the Ukrainian delegation met with representatives of the United States and Turkey.
