Officially confirming the third round of Russia-Ukraine talks to begin in Istanbul tonight, the Kremlin is cautious

Speaking to reporters today, July 23, Mr. Peskov confirmed that the Russian delegation led by the President's assistant Vladimir Medinsky has left for Türkiye. The negotiations are scheduled to begin at 7 pm Moscow time (11 pm Vietnam time).

The talks this time "will mainly focus on issues related to the draft memoranda that were exchanged in the second round, and also discuss the continuation of a very important process of exchanging prisoners of war," Peskov said.

Asked about Moscow's expectations, the Kremlin spokesman was cautious, saying it was not worth making premature predictions. "It's hard to say anything at this point. We need to see how things develop," he said. "Nobody expects an easy path. Of course, it will be a very difficult dialogue. The draft proposals are completely contradictory."

Regarding the possibility of a future summit between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, Peskov noted that it is "difficult to talk about scheduling a summit" before the negotiating teams make any significant progress.

In the previous round of talks, Russia reiterated its long-standing position, demanding that Ukraine recognize the loss of five former regions that were annexed by Russia through referendums, withdraw its troops from these regions, commit to neutrality and limit its military capabilities. Moscow also proposed a ceasefire roadmap on the condition that Ukraine halts troop movements, suspends mobilization, stops accepting foreign weapons and holds a presidential election.

Ukraine has rejected Russia's proposal as an unacceptable "ultimatum" and continues to refuse any territorial concessions. Kiev also insists it must retain the option of becoming a full member of NATO and receiving "strong security guarantees" from Western countries.

While the previous talks did not produce any decisive breakthroughs, they did result in a series of prisoner exchanges. The two sides also exchanged the bodies of dead soldiers, with Russia handing over more than 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and receiving 78 bodies of Russian soldiers.