Russia says it will Cut Back Operations near Ukraine Capital

Ukrainian negotiators participating in the talks with Russia in Turkey on Tuesday said they were calling for an international agreement under which other countries would serve as guarantors of Ukraine’s security.

“We want an international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will act in a similar way to NATO’s article number five — and even more firmly,” David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiator, told reporters after talks with a Russian delegation.

Russia will “radically” reduce its military activity in northern Ukraine, including near the capital Kyiv, after “meaningful” talks in Istanbul, Moscow’s negotiators said.

“Given that the talks on the preparation of an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine have moved into a practical field... a decision has been made to radically, by several times reduce the military activity in the areas of Kyiv and Chernigiv,” Russia’s deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin said.

Chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said there had been a “meaningful discussion” at the talks and that Ukrainian proposals would be put to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul on Tuesday marked the most significant progress in discussions to date.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held the first face-to-face meeting between the sides in more than two weeks on Tuesday, amid Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, now in its fifth week.

Speaking at the venue of the talks in Istanbul, Cavusoglu said Turkey welcomed the two countries reaching compromise and a common understanding on certain issues and said the war must end as soon as possible.

He also said that “more difficult issues” were expected to be discussed between Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers at a later date, adding that the leaders of the two countries would meet subsequently.