As reported by Head of State Volodymyr Zelensky, negotiations with the aggressor country in Istanbul failed because Moscow made cynical and unrealistic demands.
Points of attention
- Moscow wanted Ukraine to recognize Russia's "control" over Donbas and reduce the size of its army.
- Putin's team demanded the elimination of Ukrainian weapons and presented ultimatums during the negotiations in Istanbul.
- Zelensky stressed that Ukraine will never recognize the occupied territories as Russian.
Zelenskyy revealed details of the negotiations
The head of state says that the Kremlin demanded that pro-Russian former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Viktor Medvedchuk, become the new president of Ukraine.
Moreover, the point was that Donbas would completely come under Moscow's control, and Ukraine would have to recognize this by amending the Constitution.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's team did not stop there and demanded a sharp reduction in the size of the Ukrainian army to 50,000 people and a vote for the country's neutral status.
Official Moscow also wanted the Russian language to become the state language.
Putin is afraid of Ukrainian weapons
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, during the negotiations in Istanbul, the team of the illegitimate Russian president wanted Ukraine to eliminate all its weapons with a range of more than 20 kilometers.
There are no Turkish negotiations, only an ultimatum from a murderer whose last name is Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
In addition, the head of state added that official Minsk and Ankara intended to influence the course of the negotiations, but it was Moscow that ruined everything with its demands.
Therefore, we cannot say that we had any negotiations, since all three times there were ultimatums from Putin.
As Volodymyr Zelensky noted, Ukraine will never legally recognize the occupied territories as Russian, even if all its allies advocate for this.
The President also recalled that negotiations on ending the war cannot begin without Kyiv.