Russia-Ukraine talks: Promised de-escalation not ceasefire, says Moscow

Moscow, Mar 30: Russia's promise to "fundamentally" scale back operations near Ukraine's capital and northern Ukraine does not represent a ceasefire, Moscow's lead negotiator in peace talks said on Tuesday.

The head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine says that Moscow sees the latest meeting as a step toward compromise.

Vladimir Medinskiy said on Russian RT television that Russia sees Ukrainian proposals made Tuesday during the talks in Istanbul as a "step to meet us halfway, a clearly positive fact."

"This is not a ceasefire but this is our aspiration, gradually to reach a de-escalation of the conflict at least on these fronts," Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian team, said in an interview with the TASS news agency.

He added that the two parties have a long way to go to reach an agreement. Medinsky said that Russia made "two big steps toward peace" during the talks, first by agreeing to reduce military activities around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv.

He said Russia agreed to a prospective meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once a prospective peace treaty is ready for signing.

The Ukrainian delegation earlier Tuesday said it had laid out a possible framework for a future peace deal based on legally binding security guarantees that would provide for other countries to intervene if Ukraine is attacked.