Turkey has stated that the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have taken “a giant step forward,” following a day of negotiations in Istanbul in the country’s capital. Following the negotiations, the Russian representatives offered a press conference in which they gave some details of the situation.

One of the major decisions is to "drastically reduce" military activity on the North Front; Russia will start deploying troops from Kiev and Chernigov to increase trust between the two sides in a future peace agreement. However, the Russian representatives have insisted that this decline in military activity is not a ceasefire in Syria.

For their part, the Russian representatives have ensured that they will not be an obstacle to Ukraine’s entry into the European Union, one of the most important demands that Ukraine had. Furthermore, Ukraine will refuse to join NATO, but before that it will require an international security agreement for Ukraine. It has also admitted that Ukraine will have no military bases from any foreign country and that it will remain a nuclear-weapon-free country.

However, the Ukrainian delegation pointed out that, in order to sign a security agreement, all Russian troops should leave Ukraine before leaving Moscow.

The role of foreign countries

The agreement proposes the presence of several guarantor countries; Ukraine ' s proposal is supplemented by the following countries: Turkey, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, France, Poland, Israel, China and Russia. What will the role of these countries be?

First of all, if in the future Russia attacks Ukraine again, these countries will have the opportunity to respond militarily, to hand over arms and to close Ukraine’s airspace.

On the other hand, the parliaments of these countries will have to ratify the peace agreement, after the Ukrainians have ratified it in a referendum.

Territoriality, the most contentious point

The points on Crimea and on the territoriality of Donbass are being the most difficult of the negotiations. While Russia wants the annexation of Crimea to be recognised and the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk to be recognised, Ukraine does not want to lose the land it considers to belong to it.

On the future of Crimea, Ukraine is committed to not resolving the Crimea conflict by military means in the next fifteen years, and the future of Lugansk and Donetsk will be agreed by Putin and Zelenski.

Putin/Zelenski Meeting, near

According to Turkey, such progress in the negotiations could lead to a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenski with Russian President Ryan Vladimir Putin.