Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Obviously, it is incredibly frightening when you are dealing with the reality of underground schools. There is huge desire internationally for peace but the fear is Vladimir Putin is just playing along. The Ukrainian Government obviously has a desire for peace, but I imagine it would have to be on a sustainable basis. It has an appetite for real negotiations. We have seen attacks on energy infrastructure, civilian infrastructure and on the home city of President Zelenskyy, Kryvyi Rih. We all condemn these attacks and it is difficult not to be somewhat cynical about the attitude towards peace of Vladimir Putin. During a recent set of peace talks in Istanbul on 16 May, Russia sent a low-level delegation. How serious are they? We have many issues with the US Administration but it was previously inclined to offer latitude to Russia. It seems to be running out of patience. Does the Department have an expectation of what may come from the next round of negotiations on 2 June?

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