Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Sunday that he will insist on assurances that his country's sovereignty and territorial integrity will be respected at the next round of peace negotiations with Russia set to take place in Turkey as Kyiv "carefully" considers Moscow's demand of neutrality.
"Our priorities in the negotiations are known: sovereignty, territorial integrity of Ukraine are beyond doubt," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. "Effective guarantees of security are a must. Obviously, our goal is peace and return to normal life in our country as soon as possible."
The new talks – starting in Turkey on either Monday or Tuesday, according to conflicting reports – come after the Russian military said it would begin focusing on eastern Ukraine in a move some saw as a scaling back of Moscow's ambitions.
"Today, during another round of video negotiations, it was decided to hold the next in-person round of the two delegations in Turkey on March 28-30," Davyd Arakhamia, a Ukraine negotiator and politician wrote on Facebook.
Russia's lead negotiator in the conflict, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the upcoming talks with Ukraine, but gave a slightly different time frame, saying they would start Tuesday and end Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official said ahead of talks between Ukrainian and Russian representatives in Turkey that he did not expect any major breakthrough.
"I don't think there will be any breakthrough on the main issues," interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said on Monday.
Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough on March 10 in Antalya in their first top-level talks since Moscow launched its invasion in late February.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met for talks in the Turkish resort town of Antalya, which Çavuşoğlu also attended. The talks were largely inconclusive, but Ankara considers the fact that they took place at all a success.
Neither intense diplomacy nor steadily mounting sanctions have persuaded Putin to halt the war.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week that Russia and Ukraine appeared to have reached an understanding on four out of six negotiating points; Ukraine staying out of NATO, the use of Russian language in Ukraine, disarmament and security guarantees.
Kuleba said Friday however that there was "no consensus" on key points with Russia.
Turkey has been one of the countries leading efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted millions of civilians. Turkey says it can facilitate peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, but says that a cease-fire and humanitarian corridors are needed first.
NATO ally Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Having recently called Russia’s invasion an unacceptable violation of international law, Turkey has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, with which it has close energy, defense and tourism ties.
While forging close ties with Russia on energy, defense and trade, and relying heavily on Russian tourists, Turkey has sold drones to Ukraine, which angered Moscow. Turkey also opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well as Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
Erdoğan has repeatedly said Turkey will not abandon its relations with Russia or Ukraine, underlining that Ankara’s ability to speak to both sides is an asset.
Neutrality demand
A key demand from Putin, even before his troops rolled into Ukraine on Feb. 24, was that it renounce its stated intention of eventually joining NATO.
The Kremlin earlier this month said Sweden and Austria offered models of neutrality that Ukraine could adopt.
NATO's 1949 treaty gives any European nation the right to apply for membership, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said in January that "we will not slam the door shut on NATO's open-door policy."
But NATO members have said Ukraine membership is a distant option at best. Were Kyiv to join the 30-member Western alliance, NATO would be committed to help defend it against any future attack.
The new round of talks come as Russia has de facto control over the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics in the country's eastern Donbass region.
The head of Ukraine's Luhansk separatist region has said it may hold a referendum on becoming part of Russia – a move immediately slammed by Kyiv.