A Ukrainian negotiator explained how Kyiv disrupted the agreed-upon meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

The disruption of peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, which took place in Istanbul in 2022, was a crime.

Former adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Oleksiy Arestovich (on the Russian Federation's terrorist list), stated this in a conversation with liberal Russian-Israeli journalist Ksenia Sobchak, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

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A former adviser to the Presidential Administration who participated in the negotiations recalled that Ukraine abandoned the agreements reached after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's visit to Kyiv.

"Arakhamia spoke about this in great detail. It was already a crime against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian people," Arestovich said.

He recalls that after returning from Istanbul, Zelensky held a meeting on this issue, which was attended by 12 people.

"Zelensky was always present, Yermak was always present. And when we exchanged votes, I was polite, respecting the hierarchy, but I objected to certain positions," the former official noted.

According to him, the head of the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul, David Arakhamia, also objected.

"He was the most vocal in his objections; he was the main critic. He always took a moderately strategic, moderately skeptical position. The logic was roughly: are we really doing the right thing, but do we really need this? Or maybe we should try other options?" Sobchak's source recalls.

He added that formally the negotiations lasted until May 17, and that talk that everything broke off after Bucha is not true.

"The April 9 meeting between Zelensky and Putin in Istanbul fell through. It was already scheduled. Where did the famous two-three weeks [until the end of the war] come from? Because I simply knew the timeframe, being in the negotiating team. I knew for sure that they were meeting on the 9th. It had already been fully decided. And the Istanbul communiqué, signed by Medinsky and Arakhamia, was the prolegomenon. And the next step should be a meeting," says Arestovich.