“We fought Sweden for 21 years”: Russia announced in Istanbul it is “ready for endless war” against Ukraine – The Economist

Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky threatened “endless war” and seizure of the Sumy and Kharkiv Oblasts during Istanbul talks, according to Economist correspondent Oliver Carroll, who cited reliable sources.

“We are ready to fight for a year, two, three – however long it takes. We fought with Sweden for 21 years. How long are you prepared to fight? Perhaps someone sitting at this table will lose more of their loved ones. Russia is ready to fight forever…,” the journalist quoted Medinsky’s exact words.

The source told Carroll that Russia stated it would agree to an unconditional ceasefire only if Ukraine withdraws from the four ‘annexed’ oblasts, which it does not even fully control. Moscow also threatened to seize two more: the Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts. The Ukrainian side called Russia’s threats unacceptable. 

Earlier, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained to Russians the term “unconditional.” During the European Political Community summit in Albania, he called on countries worldwide to impose serious sanctions on Russia if the Russian delegation at the talks in Istanbul fails to deliver results in the form of a ceasefire.

“If the Russian representatives in Istanbul today cannot even agree to that, to cease fire, to this clearly necessary first step, then it will be 100% clear that Putin continues undermining diplomacy. If that’s not the case, there must be at least some result today, starting with a ceasefire,” he said.

Zelenskyy pointed out that Russia had sent almost the same people to Istanbul as it did to the negotiations in 2022.

Ukraine also requested direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Moscow said it “noted” this request. Accused by the International Criminal Court of war crimes against Ukrainian children, Putin didn’t show up in Türkiye during the talks. 

Ukraine and Russia have agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war in recent days.

As BBC News reported, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov stated that Ukraine’s second objective of today’s talks with the Russian delegation was to discuss a ceasefire. He didn’t offer any concrete update on that and said his teams will be “working on exchanging the details.” He said the next step should be a meeting between President Zelensky and President Putin.

The report highlighted that Kremlin officials had recently intensified their interactions with Western media outlets. They were trying to directly address the Trump administration and the American public, painting Russia’s terms of Ukraine’s capitulation as reasonable.

The ISW pointed out that Putin’s address on May 11, recent interviews with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, and Western media outlets are part of efforts to introduce Kremlin narratives into the Western information space. These narratives aim to convince the West that Russia is capable of conquering all of Ukraine by force and intimidate both Ukraine and the West into agreeing to Russia’s demands.

Putin and other Kremlin officials firmly maintain their war aims that amount to Ukraine’s full capitulation and have thus far refused to consider any peace deal that does not concede to all of Russia’s demands.

The Kremlin is falsely portraying itself as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations with Ukraine while continuing to attack frontline Ukrainian positions and setting conditions for further military aggression against Ukraine and NATO in the coming years.”