The third round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine is set to take place on July 23 in Istanbul, as confirmed by the Turkish government. The meeting will be held at the Ottoman-era Çırağan Palace in Beşiktaş, where the previous round of negotiations occurred on June 3.

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Both sides confirmed yesterday that the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. The Kremlin did so implicitly by stating that “Istanbul is an acceptable location” for the debate.

In the previous two sessions, Moscow and Kyiv reached agreements on prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of fallen soldiers’ bodies but failed to make progress toward ending the conflict.

Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said he expects a complicated process due to significant differences between the Russian and Ukrainian draft memorandums aimed at resolving the war.

“There is our draft memorandum, and there is a draft memorandum submitted by the Ukrainian side. There will be an exchange of views and negotiations on these two drafts, which, so far, are absolutely diametrically opposed. Hence, there is a great deal of diplomatic work to be done (…) There is no reason to expect any kind of miraculous breakthrough. Given the current situation, this is hardly possible,” Peskov emphasized.

The Russian government has confirmed that there will be no changes to its diplomatic delegation.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the former Defense Minister and current Secretary of the National Security Council, Rustem Umerov, will lead Kiev’s delegation.

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