US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the results of the Russian-Ukrainian talks that took place the day before in Istanbul in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, NVP KRAKOW reports with reference to UP .

Source : Russian news agency  RIA Novosti  with reference to the Russian Foreign Ministry

Details : It is noted that Rubio emphasized Washington’s readiness to continue to facilitate the search for a settlement of the war in Ukraine.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Rubio also “welcomed the agreements on the exchange of prisoners of war and on the preparation by the parties of the conditions necessary for a ceasefire.”

There is no information from the American side about this call yet.

Background :

• On May 16, direct negotiations  between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul for the first time in more than three years  .
• Russia sent  a low-level delegation  led by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky.
• According to media reports, the Russians in Istanbul  demanded that US representatives not be present at the negotiations with the Ukrainian side, and also put forward a number of  conditions that were clearly unacceptable  to Ukraine.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that during the negotiations in Istanbul, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations discussed the possibility of a large-scale prisoner exchange in the “ thousand-for-thousand ” format.
• According to Bloomberg, during the meeting in Istanbul, representatives of the Russian side voiced a number of demands to the Ukrainian delegation, naming the conditions under which Moscow is ready to cease fire. Among them is  Ukraine’s renunciation of territories and claims for reparations .