Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 18, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleZelenskiy calls for more momentum in Russia peace talks, assigning Umerov to intensify negotiations and focus on weapons agreements.
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that peace negotiations with Russia needed "more momentum" and that he had asked new National Security and Defence Council secretary Rustem Umerov to "intensify the negotiation track".
Two rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey earlier this year have yielded little more than an agreement to exchange prisoners and soldiers' remains. No date has been set for a new round of talks.
"The implementation of the agreements from the second Istanbul meeting is ongoing," Zelenskiy wrote on X. "This process needs more momentum."
Russia, which is continuing a grinding offensive along much of the eastern front, has repeatedly said it is ready for a new round of talks but has not backed down from what Kyiv and its allies describe as its maximalist war aims.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has sharpened his tone against Russia in recent weeks amid worsening air strikes on Ukrainian cities, threatened harsher sanctions on Russia earlier this week if a peace deal was not reached within 50 days.
Zelenskiy added that he was also assigning Umerov, who until a major government reshuffle on Thursday had served as defence minister, to work on weapons agreements with Kyiv's allies.
Kyiv, which still relies on Western partners for more than half of its battlefield supply, is hoping a scaled-up domestic defence industry will help fend off a bigger and better-armed Russian war machine.
"We must fully implement every agreement with our partners on weapons supplies," Zelenskiy wrote, "as well as new special agreements on establishing joint manufacturing and building production facilities on partners' territories."
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Dan PeleschukWriting by Dan Peleschuk;Editing by Alison Williams and Frances Kerry)
Zelenskiy stated that peace negotiations with Russia need 'more momentum' and emphasized the ongoing implementation of agreements from previous talks.
Previous rounds of talks in Turkey yielded minimal results, primarily an agreement to exchange prisoners and soldiers' remains, with no new dates set for further discussions.
Zelenskiy has assigned Umerov to work on weapons agreements with Ukraine's allies, highlighting the importance of these agreements for Ukraine's defence.
Ukraine is looking to scale up its domestic defence industry to better equip itself against Russian military actions, relying heavily on Western partners for battlefield supplies.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened harsher sanctions on Russia if peace efforts do not progress, reflecting a tougher stance amid increasing air strikes on Ukrainian cities.
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