WASHINGTON, June 4. /TASS/. The US administration hopes that the negotiating process on settling the Ukrainian crisis will not continue for months or years, US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
"There is a commitment to not have this go on for months, or to have meetings about meetings. It's not going to go on for a year. The President [of the US Donald Trump] and the Secretary [of State Marco Rubio] want an accomplishment and a deadline. They know what can be accomplished," she said.
In her words, she doesn’t think that the timeframe for the Ukrainian settlement set by President Trump is expiring. "Sometimes, remarkably, in negotiations, you have some progress, and then things move forward right then you actually can make a difference. And you're you're somewhat flexible and being able to make it work. So I think that it is has to be taken within that, that framework," she noted, adding that the United States did not send a delegation to the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul.
"As the President has said, and as the Secretary has noted as well, this has now got to be between the parties," she stressed. "We, of course, have said repeatedly there's no military solution to this conflict, and the President supports, though, any mechanism that leads to a just, durable and lasting peace, any mechanism."
Talks in Istanbul
On June 2, Istanbul hosted the second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine. During the slightly more than an hour-long meeting, the sides spoke Russian. They exchanged documents with their vision of ways to settle the conflict.
Moscow’s document provides for two options for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The first one implies a complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops and other paramilitary units from Russia’s territory, including the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to a distance off the Russian border that would be agreed upon by the parties in accordance with the approved provision.
The second ceasefire scenario is based on a package resolution comprising 10 points. These include a ban on the redeployment of Ukrainian troops, except their withdrawal to a distance off the Russian borders that would be agreed upon by the parties, a halt of mobilization and beginning of demobilization in Ukraine. Apart from that, it provides for the cessation of foreign military aid to Ukraine, including the provision of intelligence and satellite communication services, as well as the refusal from other countries’ military presence in Ukraine and the engagement of foreigners in combat operations on the side of the Ukrainian army.
Following the talks, Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said that Russia will unilaterally hand over to the Ukrainian side 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. Russia and Ukraine also agreed to exchange the badly wounded, the sick and young men under 25 in the all for all format - at least 1,000 on each part. Apart from that, the Russian side proposed a brief two or three-day ceasefire at certain frontline sections. In addition, according to Medinsky, the Ukrainian side handed over a list with the names of 339 children who lost contact with their parents.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who led Ukraine’s delegation, said that Kiev proposes to hold another round of talks some time between June 20 and 30.