The game around Istanbul talks resembled a multilevel intrigue. There was a thaw in the US-Ukraine relations, resulting in both Trump and Zelenski declaring that a thirty-day truce was needed in the Russian-Ukrainian war, pushing work for delaying negotiations back to Putin. Russia introduced unilateral restrictions on fighting for respective days – on Easter Day and later on the Moscow triumph parade. I am writing about unilateral restrictions on combat, due to the fact that from the position of global law, ceasefire is simply a ceasefire agreed by the parties to the armed conflict. The Kremlin consistently delegates Zelenski himself and refuses to settle with the Ukrainian government. Besides, Putin's refusal to leave for Turkey only confirms that.
