Ukrainian official: Putin wanted to reach peaceful settlement with Ukraine in 2022

During the talks in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin "wanted to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine,” one of the members of the then Ukrainian delegation, ex-deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Alexander Chaly said.

According to him, the parties reached a compromise that was "completely different from the initial ultimatum proposal that Russia put forward in Minsk (the talks took place in the first days of the conflict — ed.).

For some reason, the Istanbul agreements were disrupted, the official said.

"We were discussing a peaceful settlement between Ukraine and Russia for almost two months — in March and April. As you remember, we concluded the so-called Istanbul Communiqué. In late April, we were very close to ending the war by concluding a peace settlement. For some reason, that was postponed,” the former deputy minister said.

He also believes that it was Putin's personal initiative to accept the text of the Istanbul Communiqué "which was very different from Russia's original proposal.”

"Putin wanted to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine indeed. This is very important to remember,” the diplomat stressed.