Trilateral discussions between governments scheduled for Friday in Istanbul, as announced by the Turkish authorities.
Fireside Chat:
Tonight, Turkey's Foreign Minister, ol' Hakan Fidan, got together with a star-studded Russian crew, led by advisor extraordinaire, Vladimir Medinsky - a chum of President Putin. The hobnob went down at the flashy Dolmabahce Palace.
The cat's outta the bag, Russia and Ukraine ain't jump-starting peace talks just yet. Turkey's diplomatic squad wasn't keen on spilling the deets, but did mention they've got more meetings lined up - in various formats, no less.
A trilateral dance between Turkey, Ukraine, and the States on one side, and Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey on the other, is what's now on the menu, according to Turkey's diplomatic squad, who dropped the info in a statement. Now, whether a chat in a quadripartite format (States, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey) goes down, that's a question yet to be answered.
Just the other day, Ukrainer President Volodymyr Zelensky had a nice, lengthy gab with Turkey's big cheese, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in ol' Ankara. Volodymyr expressed some hope that the Russian side would start chattin' it up as early as Thursday.
Following a powwow with his Turkish counterpart, Volodymyr declared he's rarin' to go for some face-to-face negotiations with the Kremlin leader - who didn't show up in Turkey, bummer for him. Volodymyr reportedly felt frustrated that the Russians weren't taking the chats seriously enough. The Ukrainian crew in Istanbul, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, apparently will be geared up for a ceasefire.
On the flip side, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spilled that he'd catch up with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga. A low-level Yank's gonna have a yak with the Russian hooligans, too. Rubio's got his fingers crossed that Turkey, the gracious host, would get the Ukrainian and Russian gangsters in one room.
He did admit, though, that his expectations for the Russian-Ukrainian gangster series were pretty low.
Russia announced their crew, who's missing the bigwigs - Putin, Lavrov, and Ushakov. Instead, they've got Vladimir Medinsky steerin' the ship, joined by vice-Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Defense vice-Minister Alexander Fomin, and a bundle of experts.
Moscow and Kyiv traded insults - blame game - over the failin' of the initial peace talks, which took place in spring 2022 in Belarus, and later in Turkey.
The military rampage by Russia on Ukrainer soil, kick-started on February 24, 2022, sent shockwaves through Europe, threatening to trigger a major security crisis reminiscent of World War II (1939-1945).
By the way, if ya wanna dive deeper into the peace talkin' scene, check out our coverage on Macron's chat with Leo XIV about the craving for peace in Ukraine and Gaza.
- The diplomatic dance between Turkey, the United States, Russia, and Ukraine, centered around the war-and-conflicts in Ukraine, has become a heated political topic, with General News reporting on ongoing meetings and negotiations.
- Amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine and the surrounding politics, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis have discussed their shared desire for peace in Ukraine and other war-torn regions, such as Gaza.
