The political scientist assessed the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

The second round of Russian-Ukrainian talks showed that Kiev avoids discussing the root causes of the conflict. This was stated by political analyst Ivan Mezyuho in an interview with Izvestia on June 2.

"If we analyze the final statements of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, we can conclude that Kiev continues to avoid discussing the root causes of the conflict. During the press briefing, the Ukrainian representatives did not really say anything on this topic," he said.

According to the expert, representatives of Ukraine continued to return to the issue of establishing a ceasefire, thereby relegating the main semantic load of this conversation to the background.

"Of course, the humanitarian initiatives that were announced by the parties during this negotiation process somewhat mitigate the results of the second round of negotiations in Turkey, the return of our prisoners of war. This is always a positive event from the point of view of humanism and from the point of view that the Russian Federation never abandons its own," said Mezyuho.

According to him, in the foreseeable future, the Ukrainian side will have to demonstrate its negotiability on at least the issue of a cease-fire for 2-3 days in certain sectors of the front according to the scheme proposed by the Russian Federation.

Mezyuho added that the negotiations, as expected, did not have breakthrough results.

"I think the third round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, which has already been announced, will also be accompanied by attempts by the Ukrainian side not to talk about the root causes of the crisis," he stressed.

He also commented on the text of the Ukrainian memorandum published by Reuters. According to the political scientist, the demands of the Kiev regime are far from the realities on earth. He recalled that Ukraine is not in a position to demand anything. Russia currently has the initiative on the battlefield, which even Western experts recognize.

Russia and Ukraine have agreed on a large-scale prisoner exchange. The main thing

On June 2, the second round of negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations took place in Istanbul. They lasted more than an hour. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said that a memorandum of truce with proposals for a complete ceasefire had been handed over to the Ukrainian side.

In addition, the parties agreed on the largest prisoner exchange in the entire special operation. Seriously wounded, sick soldiers and military personnel under the age of 25 will be exchanged in the "all for all" format. It is planned to return from 1,000 to 1,200 people, Medinsky said.

The Russian Federation also proposed a cease-fire for 2-3 days in certain sectors of the front to collect the bodies of the dead. Ukraine has proposed to hold the next negotiations in the period from 20 to 30 June.