Russia-Ukraine war should stop with ceasefire at ‘current contact line’: Ukrainian official

ISTANBUL

The Russia-Ukraine war should be halted with a ceasefire at the “current contact line,” a senior Ukrainian official told Anadolu.

Asked about US President Donald Trump’s recent statement that the two sides should “stop right now at the battle lines” and negotiate based on them, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya said: “I don't know exactly the context of what is, according to you, a quotation from President Trump, so I am not going to comment on that. What I would like to bring your attention to is that I think that the position of President Trump and of Ukraine is the same -- the war should stop with a ceasefire at the current contact line and then all negotiations should depart from the current contact line, and it is up to the leadership of Ukraine and the leadership of the Kremlin to discuss further territorial issues.”

Asked what Ukraine’s best offer to Russia would be to reach a deal, Kyslytsya said: “We have already made many concessions, so I think that it's not up to the Ukrainian government to please the Russian government.

‘Difficult but constructive’

Addressing reports of tension in a recent meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he said the discussions were “difficult but constructive” and pointed to new US sanctions on Russia afterward as evidence of continued support.

“It's up to the Russian government to get serious after all and to engage in the negotiations and peace process. I think that some of the media reports are totally blown out of proportion and some media are into looking for hype. Yes, the conversations we have -- and not only with the United States, but with many other partners -- are very difficult, but I would be surprised if we would have easy conversations given the complexity of the ongoing conflict.”

“So the conversation was difficult, but it was constructive and it was productive by the end of the day, and we saw a couple of days after the meeting in the White House the introduction of the sanctions by the US administration, which supports my statement.”

US patience ‘running out’

Kyslytsya said US support for Kyiv will continue, calling Washington “a fundamental actor” in international efforts to end the war and stop the deaths.

Recalling Trump’s call to immediately halt attacks on Ukrainian civilians, he commented on the cancellation of Trump’s planned meeting last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I think that the fact that the meeting, the announced meeting, between Trump and Putin had been cancelled testifies to the fact that Washington is losing patience with the whole exercise of manipulation by Moscow and the tactics of procrastination and never-ending delays instead of getting serious and getting engaged in a negotiation process and bringing the end to this war.”

Discussing defense talks with Washington, Kyslytsya called expectations regarding the provision of Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot air defense systems realistic.

“I think that the negotiations are well underway and we are realistic.

“We are having not only political conversations, we also have conversations with the governments and with the producers of weapon systems, and Ukraine itself produces increasingly more and more weapons of its own. So I think that the process may not be as fast as we all hoped for, but it is on the right track.”

Türkiye’s role praised

Kyslytsya commended Türkiye’s diplomatic efforts and said it has remained one of the few countries able to maintain open channels with both Kyiv and Moscow over the course of the war.

“Türkiye has been a Ukrainian partner and Türkiye has hosted only this year three meetings in Istanbul, and we do really appreciate the fact that Foreign Minister (Hakan) Fidan was present himself and he did his best to facilitate the process of interaction between the delegation of Ukraine and the delegation of the Russian Federation.”

Highlighting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s pivotal role in the peace process, he said: “The leadership of President Erdogan as well is very prominent and the contacts between President Zelenskyy and President Erdogan are regular and they are full of substance. So it's not only the exchange of pleasantries. We discuss very important things that are very relevant to the post-conflict arrangement that we all hope to achieve.”