Ukraine keeps Russia guessing over talks, US senator warns Moscow of sanctions

By Christian Lowe, Dmitry Antonov and Anastasiia Malenko

KYIV/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine on Friday resisted U.S. and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks on June 2, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new U.S. sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a further round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.

Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals.

"For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X after hosting Turkey's foreign minister for talks in Kyiv.

"Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results," he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia.

Some Republicans in the U.S. Congress and White House advisers have urged Trump to finally embrace new sanctions on Russia to put pressure on Moscow.

Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv on Friday the Republican-led U.S. Senate is expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week.

Graham, who met Zelenskiy in Kyiv, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the U.S. president expects concrete actions now from Moscow.

Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubts the Istanbul meeting will amount to more than a "Russian charade."

"The game that Putin has been playing is about to change. He is going to be hit, and hit hard by the United States, when it comes to sanctions," Graham said.

Trump told reporters on Friday that both Putin and Zelenskiy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire. Trump made no mention of sanctions.

The war, the biggest in Europe since World War Two, began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Expectations for the talks are modest because the positions staked out so far by the two sides are far apart and work between them has yet to begin in earnest on narrowing the gap.

Nevertheless, both Kyiv and Moscow are keen to demonstrate to Trump they are on board with his efforts to end the conflict. Kyiv wants more U.S. military aid, while Moscow hopes Trump will ease existing economic sanctions on Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning.

"Everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed," Peskov said.

NO MORE NATO ENLARGEMENT?

Reuters reported this week that Putin's conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards.

Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said on Friday that Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and Washington did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.

Commenting on Kellogg's statement, Peskov said: "We are pleased that these explanations by the president are understood, including in Washington."

Turkey hosted a previous round of Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul on May 16 - which ended with no breakthrough - and has again offered its services as a mediator.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters in Kyiv: "As long as (the sides) remain at the negotiating table, progress can surely be seen."

If the talks go ahead, the next step would be to try to host a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskiy, he added.

But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who appeared alongside Fidan at a news conference, said Kyiv needed to see the Russian proposals in advance for the talks to be "substantive and meaningful."

In a subsequent call with Zelenskiy, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was important both Russia and Ukraine send strong delegations to the talks and added that a leaders' meeting could contribute further to the peace process, the Turkish presidency said.

Sybiha did not spell out what Kyiv would do if it did not receive the Russian document, or set out a deadline for receiving it.

"We want to end this war this year, and we are interested in establishing a truce, whether it is for 30 days, or for 50 days, or for 100 days," he said.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday Moscow was ready to consider a ceasefire provided Western states stopped arming Ukraine and Kyiv stopped mobilising troops.

Moscow has said its delegation for Istanbul would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide who led the previous round.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Anna Pruchnicka, Tom Balmforth, Anastasiia Malenko, Ronald Popeski and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Ros Russell, Gareth Jones and Daniel Wallis)