The peace initiatives of the Russian leadership, which is committed to continuing direct negotiations with Ukraine, are clear and obvious, said Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya, speaking at a meeting of the organisation’s Security Council on Thursday, while Washington said it was ready to abandon the idea of NATO expansion towards Russia’s borders.
“We are committed to continuing the serious direct negotiation process with Ukraine, which it interrupted in April 2022…The result should be a decision that would reliably eliminate the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict and threats to our country’s security…The Ukrainian side has been invited to meet in Istanbul on June 2 to discuss the content of our memoranda with approaches to the negotiation process,” Nebenzya said.
However, the Russian diplomat stressed that “as long as Kyiv continues to try to prolong the war and provoke Russia by striking residential and civilian infrastructure, the Russian Federation will continue to destroy objects related to Ukraine’s military potential.”
“And no new anti-Russian sanctions, arms supplies to Ukraine and other hostile steps towards Russia will prevent the inevitable military defeat of the Zelensky regime,” he said. “The choice is now up to Ukraine: peace following negotiations or inevitable defeat on the battlefield with different terms for ending the conflict,” Nebenzya also added.
Meanwhile, the administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Turkish authorities hope that future talks between Moscow and Kyiv will contribute to a ceasefire.
Washington will hold a meeting with representatives of Germany, France and the United Kingdom in Istanbul on June 2, US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said in an interview with ABC News.
Kellogg said that European national security advisers would attend on behalf of Europe.
The date set for the meeting between the US and European countries coincides with the date of the second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine. A meeting at the delegation level may also take place in Istanbul, according to a proposal made by the Russian Foreign Ministry. On May 29, the Kremlin said that it had not yet received a response from Ukraine to the proposal to hold a meeting on June 2.
Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table
Kellogg also stressed that the US is ready to stop NATO’s expansion towards Russia’s borders, and Ukraine’s accession to the alliance is “not up for discussion.”
“We’ve said that to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table, and we’re not the only country that says that – you know I could probably give you four other countries in NATO and it takes 32 of the 32 to allow you to come in to NATO,” he told ABC late on Thursday. “That’s one of the issues that Russia will bring up.”
“They’re not just talking Ukraine, they’re talking the country of Georgia, they’re talking Moldova,” Kellogg said, adding that a decision on US views of NATO enlargement was for Trump to make.
On May 9, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishina claimed that all NATO countries had agreed to the republic’s accession to the Alliance. She stressed that the official decision had been recorded in the alliance’s documents.
Why Zelensky needs personal meetings with Putin and Trump
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to legitimise himself by insisting on a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
Medvedev also listed the “related tasks” that Zelensky is pursuing: to postpone elections in Ukraine, to signal to nationalist elites that “you don’t change horses in midstream,” and to obtain the right to continue stealing from the military budget.
Also, according to Medvedev, Zelensky wants to use the meeting to reinforce the idea that he has the right to sign documents on the outcome of military events and gain immunity in the future.
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky proposed holding a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump. The Kremlin stated that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is possible, but it must be the result of specific agreements.
