Ukraine expects peace 'memorandum' from Russia by June 2: defense minister

KYIV - Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Wednesday that his country expects to receive a peace "memorandum" from Russia by the announced meeting on June 2.

"We are not opposed to further meetings with the Russians and are awaiting their memorandum, so that the meeting won't be empty and can truly move us closer to ending the war," Umerov, who is the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks with Russia, wrote in a post on Facebook.

"The Russian side has at least four more days before their departure to provide us with their document for review," he said.

Umerov noted that he has already handed over the document which reflects the Ukrainian position to the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations held negotiations in Turkiye's Istanbul on May 16, which marked the first direct talks between the countries since March 2022.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the second round of negotiations will be held in Istanbul on June 2, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.