“This Saturday, May 17, at the initiative of the US side, a telephone conversation took place between Lavrov and the US Secretary of State, who exchanged views on the results of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations held in Istanbul,” the official note said.

Rubio “hailed the agreements on the exchange of prisoners of war and on the preparation by each side of its vision of the conditions necessary to reach a truce, and emphasized Washington’s readiness to continue helping in the search for a settlement,” the Foreign Ministry note added.

In his turn, Lavrov highlighted the “positive” role of the United States, which contributed to Ukraine finally accepting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to resume the Istanbul negotiations, and also confirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue working together with its US colleagues in this context.

During the conversation, other international and regional issues were also discussed.

The two sides exchanged views on the continuation of US-Russian contacts, the official communication of the Foreign Ministry concluded.

On May 16, negotiations between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul. Moscow and Kiev agreed to exchange prisoners according to the “thousand-for-thousand” formula, to present their detailed vision of a possible future ceasefire and to continue the process of negotiations.

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