WASHINGTON, March 6. /TASS/. The situation has evolved since the Istanbul agreements were drafted, but they could serve as a starting point for negotiations toward a settlement in Ukraine, according to Keith Kellogg, the US president's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

"I will agree with what [the US president’s special envoy] Steve Witkoff said. And Steve said, it's [the Istanbul agreements] a departure point," Kellogg said, speaking at an online seminar hosted by the US Council on Foreign Relations. "I don't think, I don't believe, for all of us that that is an equitable framework, and I think we have to develop something entirely new. "You can start from that position, <...> that is going to be something that the negotiation teams going forward with what they want to look at," Kellogg added.

In late February, Witkoff said that the draft Istanbul agreements of 2022 may be used as a basis for the Ukrainian settlement.

Since the start of the special military operation, Russia and Ukraine have engaged in negotiations. Initially, they met in Belarus, followed by a meeting in Istanbul in late March 2022. During the Istanbul talks, the delegations initialed a draft agreement that outlined Ukraine’s commitments to a neutral, non-aligned status and a pledge not to deploy foreign weapons, including nuclear arms, on its territory.

However, Ukraine unilaterally halted the negotiations. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, later admitted that this occurred at the suggestion of then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had traveled to Kiev for this purpose.