Ukraine’s ex-defence minister and current Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov will head Kyiv’s delegation at the next round of peace talks with Russia on Wednesday, July 23rd, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“The delegation will … include representatives of Ukrainian intelligence, Ukraine’s foreign ministry, and the office of the president,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
The Kremlin on Tuesday downplayed expectations for the talks with Ukraine, the third such round of negotiations in recent months. “We don’t have any reason to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs” at the talks on Wednesday, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a briefing.
Moscow has not yet announced the composition of its team for the talks. Its delegation at the previous round was led by the current head of the Russian Union of Writers Vladimir Medinsky, whom Ukraine described as not a real decision-maker.
Zelensky said Kyiv was ready to “secure the release of our people from captivity and return of abducted children, to stop the killings, and to prepare a leaders’ meeting,” outlining potential topics for discussion on Wednesday.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on May 16th and on June 2nd as Washington stepped up pressure for a deal, but no breakthrough was achieved. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators only agreed to exchange prisoners and soldiers’ bodies.
Russia has since launched intense air attacks on Ukraine and seized more frontline territory. Kyiv said the increased pressure by Moscow showed it was not serious about halting the offensive it launched in February 2022.
