RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia reveals team for next round of Ukraine peace talks

Russia’s negotiating team for the next round of direct peace talks with Ukraine will remain unchanged, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will once again lead the delegation.

Moscow and Kiev last met for direct talks in Istanbul on May 16, marking the first formal negotiations since 2022. That round resulted in the largest prisoner exchange to date, with 1,000 individuals released by each side. The parties also agreed to prepare written proposals—a pair of memorandums—outlining their positions on a potential ceasefire ahead of the next meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has proposed holding the follow-up talks on Monday, June 2, again in Istanbul. Zakharova later confirmed that the same Russian delegation will attend.

Her comments came after Medinsky, denied Ukrainian claims that Moscow is stalling the peace process. In a post on Telegram on Wednesday, he said he had called Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who leads Kiev’s negotiation team, and proposed “a date and location for the exchange of memorandums.”

“We are ready to begin substantive discussions on a framework agreement for a potential ceasefire,” the Russian official stated.

On Wednesday evening, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov confirmed that Moscow’s memorandum is ready, triggering a demand from Kiev that the document be released.

In a post on X Umerov stated that he had “handed over our document to the head of the Russian delegation, which reflects the Ukrainian position.”

“We are not opposed to further meetings with the Russians and are awaiting their ‘memorandum,’ so that the next meeting won’t be empty and can truly move us closer to ending the war,” Kiev’s top negotiator added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed Umerov’s demands to see the Russian memorandum prior to any forthcoming talks as “unconstructive.”

“They should either confirm they are prepared for talks or say otherwise,” Peskov said.

The Ukrainian leadership had previously insisted on a 30-day pause in hostilities as a precondition for negotiations. Russia rejected the proposal, arguing that Kiev would use it to regroup its military. Ukraine later revised its position under pressure from US President Donald Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that for a full ceasefire to be achieved, Ukraine must halt its mobilization, stop receiving foreign weapons, and withdraw its forces from the territory Moscow claims.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drones damage hospital, homes in Russia's Kursk, official says

Ukrainian drones launched a night-time attack on Russia's western Kursk region, damaging a hospital and apartment buildings and injuring at least one person, the regional governor said early on Friday.

Across the border in Ukraine's Sumy region, the regional governor reported fresh fighting in villages near the border where Russia has been seizing territory. He said various areas in his region were constantly changing hands.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants to create a buffer zone in Sumy, which was used to help launch Ukraine's incursion into Kursk last year.

In the Kursk region, where Russia's military says Ukrainian forces who staged the incursion last August have been ejected, Governor Alexander Khinshtein said Ukrainian drones swarmed the main town, also called Kursk.

"Drone fragments damaged the No. 1 city hospital in Kursk. Windows were smashed. Fortunately, no patients were injured," Khinshtein wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Falling drone fragments have also damaged high-rise apartment buildings.

Ukraine's military says its forces remain active in small areas of Kursk region.

Authorities in Sumy region, under constant Russian attack for months, acknowledged this week that Russian forces were in control of at least four villages near the border.

"Active battles continue in certain border areas, notably around the settlements of Khotyn and Yunakivka," Governor Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Facebook.

"The situation on the line of contact is constantly changing. In some places, we hold the initiative, in others the enemy is proving to be active."

Russia's Defence Ministry on Thursday said its forces had captured three more villages as it slowly advances through parts of eastern Ukraine.

These were Stroivka in northeastern Kharkiv region, where Moscow has long been applying pressure, and Shevchenko Pershe and Hnativka near the town of Pokrovsk, the focal point of Russia's westward drive for months.

Ukrainian military reports have made no acknowledgement of any of the three villages coming under Russian control. A statement on Thursday evening said Russian forces had launched 53 attacks over 24 hours near Pokrovsk.

RT/Reuters