Istanbul

Russia's deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin said its forces are ready to reduce military activity in the areas around Kyiv and Chernigiv as chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said there had been a "meaningful discussion" with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul.

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"After today's meaningful discussion we have agreed on and proposed a solution, according to which the meeting of the heads of state is possible simultaneously with the foreign ministers initialling the treaty," Medinsky said.

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Medinsky added that the "possibility to make peace will become much closer". The chief Russian negotiator said the Ukrainian side had presented written proposals that said the country was ready to become a "permanently neutral state under international security guarantees".

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The Russian negotiator said Ukraine officials want the final agreement to be inked between President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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Meanwhile, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said: "The results of today's meeting are sufficient for a meeting at the leaders' level." However, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier called a possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky as "counterproductive". 

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After the talks concluded, the Russian ruble surged over 10 per cent against the dollar. Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the talks had shown "most significant progress" as Ukrainian and Russian officials reportedly spoke for three hours.

However, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken said he had "not seen signs of real seriousness" from Russia, while the UK government declared it will judge Russia by "actions, not words" amid the fighting in Ukraine.

(With inputs from Agencies)