’No Miracles’: Russia Downplays 3rd Round Of Ukraine Talks Set For Wednesday

President Zelensky’s office has confirmed that bilateral Russia-Ukraine peace talks are set to resume in Turkey on Wednesday, following deadly Russian ballistic missiles strikes on Kiev Monday. Tit-for-tat drone and missile strikes have become a nightly reality at this point in this tragic war of attrition which Russia has the clear upper-hand in.

Russia is meanwhile downplaying the likelihood of any major progress in these fresh peace talks. Ukrainian officials too remain pessimistic, given they’ve just reported that a child was killed and more than 20 people were injured in the latest overnight Russian attacks. The messaging from both sides is to expect no miracles or breakthroughs at the Turkey-hosted talks.

„We see no reason to expect any kind of breakthrough,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, adding that such a development is „hardly possible under the current circumstances.”

The 2nd round of talks, Anadolu/Getty Images

The engagement will mark the third round of direct talks in recent months, with past talks only having resulted in prisoner swaps and the return of fallen soldiers’ remains, but which failed to produce the broader goal of a ceasefire agreement.

Russia has not yet revealed who will represent its side in the talks – after the last round was led by Vladimir Medinsky, a conservative historian and head of the Russian Union of Writers, whom Ukraine dismissed as lacking real decision-making authority.

Indeed the broad Western media consensus was that Putin sent a mid-level or 'B-team’ and that it showed he wasn’t serious. However, other analysts pointed to the reality that no major decisions could be made without Putin’s direct consultaion regardless, and that he chose a loyal team.

When asked in a press briefing about the Kremlin’s expectations for a possible timeline on reaching a peace deal, Peskov said he could not provide any estimates.

„There is a lot of work to be done before we can talk about the possibility of some top-level meetings,” Peskov also said, addressing the question of whether Zelensky and Putin would ever meet.

President Trump has meanwhile lately approved new weapons to Ukraine, but these are said to be defensive in nature, while the US has still apparently resisted the kind of long-range offensive weapons that Zelensky has been seeking. Trump has dismissed reports that he’s ready to give weapons 'that can reach Moscow’ as fake news.

In the war itself, Russia’s air war continues to be crippling and punishing. As an example of the kind of nightly attacks Ukrainian cities are facing, Al Jazeera writes that „two powerful Russian glide bombs were dropped on Sumy city, wounding at least 13 people, including a six-year-old boy, and damaging five apartment buildings, two private homes and a shopping centre in the attack. The blasts shattered windows and destroyed balconies in residential buildings, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said.”