'Ceasefire not on the table': diplomat on third round of Istanbul talks

Oleh Shamshur, diplomat, former Ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S. and France, expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"The only practical result of the third round of so-called negotiations was the resolution of the issue of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of our fallen heroes. As important as these issues are, there are other channels and ways to resolve them effectively, and we know this. There is no need to gather in Istanbul for public contacts for this. 

Secondly, in my opinion, if you look at all three rounds, they have shown the futility of these negotiations and that they are taking place according to the Russian scenario," Oleh Shamshur noted.

According to him, Russia uses these negotiations to pursue its military objectives under the guise of seeking paths to peace, and also uses the negotiation process for propaganda purposes, targeting Trump, Europeans, and the Global South. In addition, the Russians are trying in this way to fight against the imposition of tougher and truly hellish sanctions.

"I also noticed that there was a meeting between Medinsky and Umerov, which was reported to have lasted longer than scheduled. I can't say what was discussed, I can only state this fact. If you look at what Medinsky said about the differences between the parties, recall that during the first and second rounds, this was discussed rudely and in a negative tone. 

But here, in my opinion, he changed the degree of harshness in his statements. What this indicates can be interpreted in different ways, but in this format, the issue of a ceasefire is clearly not being resolved, and that is the only issue that could be the subject of discussion," the diplomat commented.

• On July 23, the third round of negotiations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation took place in Istanbul. Before that, the Ukrainian delegation met in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.