NEW YORK, July 22. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump, having made it clear to Ukraine that it would not be able to join NATO and should forget about attempts to return the regions that became part of Russia after referendums, forced Kiev to negotiate with Moscow, The New York Times reported.
It said Vladimir Zelensky, after a shouting match with Trump in the White House, realized that it was not worth demanding serious security guarantees from the United States.
According to the publication, Trump's 50-day deadline, when Moscow and Washington are supposed to agree on a settlement in Ukraine, reflects impatience rather than determination and is unlikely to reap any result.
According to the NYT, the US president will have to choose in the future either to continue to provide Ukraine with military assistance and intelligence, or stop supporting and withdraw from the conflict. The second scenario would pose a serious threat to Kiev, the story says.
On July 22, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the third round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks was scheduled for this week. Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky claimed that the next meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations is scheduled for July 23 in Turkey. A TASS source said that the third round of negotiations will be held on July 24.
At the two rounds of negotiations that took place in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2, Russia and Ukraine agreed on the exchange of prisoners under a "thousand for a thousand" formula, as well as on the return of seriously ill and young (under 25) prisoners under an "all for all" format - at least a thousand people from each side. Moscow, in continuation of the Istanbul agreements, also in June transferred to Kiev the first 6,060 bodies of dead Ukrainian servicemen, returning 78 dead Russian soldiers, and on July 17 - another 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, receiving in response 19 bodies of dead Russian soldiers.