Russia has announced that it will ‘radically reduce’ military activity outside Kyiv and Chernihiv after ‘meaningful’ negotiations were held in Turkey on Tuesday.

Deputy Defence Minister, Alexander Fomin said, “Given that the talks on the preparation of an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine have moved into a practical field… a decision has been made to radically, by several times reduce the military activity in the areas of Kyiv and Chernihiv.”

Vladimir Putin’s forces have been pushed back from the Kyiv area in recent days as Ukrainian troops recaptured the town of Irpin, while Chernihiv has been targeted with constant artillery fire and air strikes. 

He said he hopes the major step will “increase mutual trust” in talks, sparking hope that the Kremlin will scale back its devastating assaults against its neighbour and secure a peace deal. 

Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said there had been a ‘meaningful discussion’ at the talks and that Ukrainian proposals would be put to Putin.

Both Ukraine and Russia said today’s talks have paved the way for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

A spokesman for Kyiv’s delegation also said they proposed adopting neutral status in exchange for security guarantees, meaning they would not join military alliances or host military bases.
The proposals would also include a 15-year consultation period on the status of annexed Crimea and could come into force only in the event of a complete ceasefire, the negotiators told reporters in Istanbul after the first negotiations in nearly three weeks.