Russia demanded Kyiv pull back troops before ceasefire, Ukrainian source says

(Reuters)

ISTANBUL, May 17- Russian negotiators at peace talks in Istanbul demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all the Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the terms that Russia had put forward at Friday’s meeting in Turkey – the first time the warring sides had held face-to-face talks since March 2022, weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The talks lasted only one hour and 40 minutes, and yielded an agreement to trade 1,000 prisoners of war on each side. The two countries have not specified when that would happen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Saturday for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. “This was a deliberate killing of civilians,” he said.

“Pressure must be exerted on Russia to stop the killings. Without tougher sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy.”

Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it struck a military target in Sumy. Its defence ministry said Russian troops had captured another settlement in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and welcomed the “positive role” of the United States in helping to secure a resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine.

“(Lavrov) confirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue joint work with American colleagues in this context,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine and Western governments, including the U.S., have demanded that Russia agree to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire lasting at least 30 days.

But the Ukrainian source said Moscow’s negotiators had demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, with a ceasefire to take place only after that.

The source said that and other demands went beyond the terms of a draft peace deal that the United States proposed last month after consultations with Moscow.