Five weeks into the invasion, negotiators from both sides sat across from each other in Istanbul. It was March 29, 2022, and the room produced something rare in this war: a concrete offer. Ukraine would stay out of military alliances, refuse foreign bases and stay non-nuclear. In return it wanted guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5, with Canada, Poland, Turkey and Israel named among the possible guarantors.
“If we manage to consolidate these key provisions,” Ukrainian negotiator Oleksander Chaly said, Ukraine would be “in a position to actually fix its current status as a non-bloc and non-nuclear state.”
The catch is in the fine print. The package also proposed a 15-year consultation period on Crimea and would only take effect after a complete ceasefire. Ukraine’s team thought it was substantive enough to justify a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin.
What Moscow offered, and what followed
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow would “drastically scale down its military operations around Kyiv and the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.” Chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky promised to study the Ukrainian text and report to Putin. Turkey’s foreign ministry called the round the most significant so far. It was also the first in-person encounter since March 10.
Nothing like it has been repeated at that level since. Direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow did not resume in any meaningful form, and the diplomacy moved to other rooms.
Kyiv’s formula
In November 2022, at a Group of 20 summit, Zelenskyy laid out a 10-point peace formula. Al Jazeera’s summary of it reads like a list of what Kyiv will not trade away: restoration of Ukraine’s borders, which Zelenskyy said are “not up to negotiations,” withdrawal of Russian troops, release of all prisoners and deported children, and a special tribunal for Russian war crimes. It also covers nuclear safety around the Zaporizhzhia plant, food security and grain exports, energy infrastructure and demining.
The reception was polite and cool. In December Zelenskyy proposed a global summit to discuss the plan. Russia rejected it, repeating that it would not give up the territory it holds, roughly one-fifth of Ukraine. President Biden said Washington shares “the exact same vision” for peace. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was blunter: “the military confrontation will go on,” he said, and the world would “have still to wait for a moment in which serious negotiations for peace will be possible.”
Jeddah, without Russia
The next big gathering came in Saudi Arabia in August 2023. More than 40 countries sent delegations, among them China, India, the United States and European states. Russia stayed away. Gulf News reported on August 6, 2023 that the meeting ended without a written concluding statement, though it set up working groups on parts of the 10-point formula, including food security and nuclear safety.
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, called it “an extremely honest, open conversation” and said the consultations were “very productive.” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov saw it differently, describing the effort as “futile, doomed” and an attempt by the West to line up the Global South behind Kyiv.
China’s presence drew attention, but analysts quoted by Gulf News said it did not signal a change in Beijing’s position. French delegates pushed back on China’s argument that a ceasefire should come first, on the grounds that it would legitimize Russia’s territorial gains. Eighteen months into the war, Gulf News noted, direct negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow still looked remote.
Sources
- Russia promises to scale down operations, Ukraine proposes neutrality
- Ukraine calls Jeddah talks productive, Russia calls them doomed
- What is Zelenskyy's 10-point peace plan?
