Kyiv and Moscow Prepare for Talks in October

Ukraine is preparing for a new round of peace talks in October, said Kyryl Budanov, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky. "We are preparing for October," RBC-Ukraine quotes him as saying. Budanov did not specify the exact location for the meeting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier suggested the possibility of resuming trilateral talks on Ukrainian settlement, but called it premature to discuss specific dates and venues. Moscow, in this way, is not closing the door to dialogue, leaving the question of format and participants open.

President Zelensky, in turn, named the UAE, Turkey, or Switzerland as possible locations for the next meeting of delegations from Russia, the United States, and Ukraine, expressing a desire to hold it in autumn of this year.

The previous round of trilateral talks took place in Geneva on February 17–18. Since then, the parties have not held face-to-face meetings at a comparable level, which gives the October round special diplomatic significance.