The top figure in Eastern Orthodox Christianity on Sunday has said “Ukraine’s sovereignty is not up for debate, nor can it be negotiated under the guise of diplomacy,” as he celebrated Mass in Istanbul on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s

Russian diplomats are meeting their U.S. counterparts in Istanbul for talks on normalizing diplomatic missions, three years after the Biden administration withdrew U.S. Embassy staff from Russia as Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

The top figure in Eastern Orthodox Christianity on Sunday declared that “Ukraine’s sovereignty is not up for debate, nor can it be negotiated under the guise of diplomacy,” as he celebrated Mass in Istanbul on the eve of the

Bilateral talks on embassy issues in Istanbul come as Trump positions himself as main broker in Ukraine peace deal.

Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet on February 27 in Istanbul to discuss disputes over their respective diplomatic missions as the two sides continue a bilateral dialogue seen as crucial to ending the Ukraine war.

US officials will meet with their Russian counterparts in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Thursday, 27 February, to discuss embassy operations, though the issue of Ukraine will not be tackled. Source: Reuters,

Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says the United States has not officially proposed that Ukraine return to the so-called "Istanbul agreements" for a "peaceful settlement" of the war.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Volodymyr Zelenskiy would visit Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals, while the Ukrainian leader said the success of the deal would hinge on those talks and continued U.

Kyiv signing the Istanbul communique may have quickly stopped the war and the killing. But the Kremlin has repeatedly shown it cannot be trusted to adhere to agreements – you only have to look at the way it repeatedly violated the Minsk accords of 2015, which attempted to end hostilities in eastern Ukraine.