Sawt Falasteen - Ukraine says ready for 'necessary steps' at Istanbul talks with Russia

Urged on by US President Donald Trump, Moscow and Kyiv have opened direct negotiations for the first time since the early weeks of Russia's invasion, but have yet to make significant progress towards an elusive agreement.

Monday's talks come a day after Ukraine carried out one of its most brazen and successful attacks ever on Russian soil -- hitting dozens of strategic bombers parked at airbases thousands of kilometres behind the front line.

A first round of talks in Istanbul last month yielded a large-scale prisoner exchange but no pause in the fighting, which has raged since Russia invaded in February 2022.

The second round is scheduled to get underway at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, an Ottoman imperial house on the banks of the Bosphorus that is now a luxury five-star hotel.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will mediate the talks.

"We are ready to take the necessary steps for peace," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a summit of NATO members in Vilnius ahead of the talks.

A source in the negotiating team urged Russia to avoid repeating its previous hardline demands and show "flexibility."

"If they are ready to move forward, not just repeat the same previous ultimatums, then there may be good and big news today," the source told AFP.

- 'Unconditional ceasefire' -

Moscow says it will present a "memorandum" of its peace terms, having resisted pressure by Ukraine to send its demands in advance.

Despite the flurry of diplomacy, the two sides remain far apart.

Zelensky on Sunday refreshed his call for an immediate halt to the fighting, something Kyiv says is a necessary first step to discussions of long-term peace.

"First –- a full and unconditional ceasefire. Second –- the release of prisoners. Third -– the return of abducted children," he said Sunday in a post on social media.

He also called for the sides to discuss a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The key issues can only be resolved by the leaders," Zelensky said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly pushed back against the prospect of a Zelensky-Putin meeting, having questioned his legitimacy throughout the war and repeatedly called for him to be toppled.

Moscow says it wants to address the "root causes" of the conflict -- language typically used to refer to a mix of sweeping demands including limiting Ukraine's military, banning the country from joining NATO and massive territorial concessions.

Kyiv and the West have rejected those calls and cast Russia's assault as nothing but an imperialist land grab.

Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia invaded, with swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed and millions forced to flee their homes, in Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.

Russia's top negotiator in Istanbul will be Vladimir Medinsky, an ideological Putin aide who led failed talks in 2022, has written school textbooks justifying the invasion, and has questioned Ukraine's right to exist as a nation.

Ukraine's team will be led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, seen as a skilled and pragmatic negotiator, but who has been mired in domestic scandal over alleged abuse of power and a lack of transparency.

Members of the Ukrainian delegation met officials from Britain, Germany and Italy in Istanbul ahead of the talks, Kyiv's foreign ministry said.

- Immediate ceasefire -

After months of setbacks for Kyiv's military, Ukraine said it had carried out an audacious attack on Sunday, damaging some 40 strategic Russian bombers worth $7 billion in a major special operation.

Kyiv's security service said the plan, 18 months in the making, had involved smuggling drones into Russia, then launching them from near the airbases, thousands of kilometres away from the front lines.

For months, Russian troops have been advancing on the ground, particularly in the northeastern Sumy region, where Putin ordered his forces to establish a "buffer zone" along the border.

Ahead of the talks, Russian officials have called for Ukraine to be cut off from Western military support and cede territory still controlled by its army.

Kyiv has previously accepted it may only be able to get territory taken by Russia through diplomacy, not fighting.

Ukraine also wants concrete Western-backed security guarantees -- like NATO protections or troops on the ground -- that have been ruled out by Russia.

V.AbuAwwad--SF-PST