Ukraine’s chief negotiator opens the door to new hope for ending the war and talks about negotiations that will begin with Russia

Ukraine’s chief negotiator in the talks with Russia, David Arakhamia, believes that negotiations could start again in the second half of 2023, Ukrainian media reported.

Arakhamia said on Saturday that the talks could begin when the presidential race begins in the United States.

“When the electoral cycles begin to work in both Russia and the United States, that is, they will be sometime in the second half of next year”.

The Russian-Ukrainian talks began at the end of last February, after the start of Moscow’s military operation.

The last round of negotiations concluded in Istanbul on March 29, and talks have stalled since then.

In late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was still open to talks with Kyiv, and called on Ukraine to cease hostilities.

In turn, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that “Kyiv is ready for dialogue with Moscow, but only if another president comes to power in Russia”.

The Kremlin replied that Moscow would wait for a change in the position of the current Ukrainian president or his successor.

Earlier this week, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said that Moscow does not put forward any preconditions for negotiations with Ukraine, but that Kyiv must show goodwill.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “open to contacts” but that Ukraine had “decided not to continue negotiations”.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday that he would consider a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov if he received such a request.