Delegations from Russia and Ukraine wrapped up peace talks Monday in Istanbul after just over an hour, departing the meeting with plans to swap prisoners but no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire.
Ukrainian officials and Russian state media reported the second round of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since March 2022 yielded pledges to return the bodies of dead soldiers to the other side, in addition to a large swap of prisoners of war (POW).
More than a dozen people on each side attended the talks at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace, with the Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and the Russian team led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The United States has led efforts to bring about an end to the war, starting with a ceasefire, but the Kremlin has been a holdout in agreeing to any end of hostilities.
Weekend events seemed to move in the wrong direction. Kyiv launched a surprise drone attack on Sunday on air bases deep inside Russia, and Moscow fired 472 drones at Ukraine - the largest number of drones since it first invaded the country in February 2022.
Here are the key takeaways from the latest talks:
Both sides exchange broad peace plans
Ukraine and Russia remain deeply divided on how to bring about an end to the war, which has seen the Kremlin gain control of about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory. That includes Moscow’s hold on the southern Crimea peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
Ukraine is insisting on a “full and unconditional ceasefire” for at least 30 days on land, in air and at sea to “end the killings now,” Umerov told reporters after the meeting.
He noted that Ukraine had given Russia a truce proposal a few days ago but Moscow had not reciprocated and instead presented its plan at Monday’s talks. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of not wanting a quick end to the war so it can make further advances on the battlefield.
Kyiv is demanding war reparations, no restrictions on its military forces after any peace deal, and that the international community not recognize Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine it currently claims or occupies, Reuters reported.
Russia, meanwhile, said it wants a long-term settlement versus a pause in attacks, rejecting an unconditional ceasefire that doesn’t address its maximalist demands.
While neither country’s ceasefire proposals have been made public, Russian state media published bullet points of what the Kremlin wants, including that the Ukrainian military withdraw from its four partly occupied regions in the south-east — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — as well as international recognition of its hold on that land as well as Crimea.
Moscow also demands Ukraine not be allowed in any military alliances, a reference to NATO, limits on the size of the Ukrainian army, Russian being adopted as an official language, and that international sanctions be lifted.
Moscow also floated a ceasefire of “two to three days in certain sections” along the front so that either side can collect the bodies of dead soldiers.
Prisoner exchange in the works
Russian and Ukrainian officials said they had agreed at the peace talks to exchange more POWs and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers — 6,000 for each side.
The number of prisoners to be swapped wasn't disclosed, but will reportedly include people under the age of 25 and those with serious injuries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said Ukraine could return up to 1,200 POWs, with an expected 1,000-for-1,000 format that could be increased.
Speaking during an online press conference, Zelensky also said a future swap could also involve imprisoned journalists and political prisoners held in Russia, as reported by the Kyiv Independent.
The two sides last held a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange from May 23 to 25, an exchange that was agreed upon at May 16 peace talks.
Ukraine also wants back nearly 400 children Kyiv said had been forcefully taken to Russia, and gave Moscow a list of names at the Istanbul talks. Russia contends that the children were “saved” as they had been moved to protect them from the fighting.
Comes after Ukraine's drone attacks
The talks come after Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Russian air bases Sunday that damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes including nearly a third of Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet, according to Kyiv.
Zelensky hailed the strikes — which were simultaneous and deep inside Russia in five regions including the Arctic, Siberian and Far East — as a “brilliant” operation that “will undoubtedly be in history books.”
He also noted that the raid took more than a year and a half to prepare by the Ukrainian security service, according to a post to X Sunday.
Speaking Monday at a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Zelensky said such attacks would help force Moscow to the negotiating table.
“Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy,” he said, also noting, “while there are no meaningful signals from Russia to end the war, it is important to strengthen our defence.”
Ukraine has struck Russian air bases in the past but Sunday’s attack marks the furthest into the country it has gone, more than 4,000 miles from the border, to attack the Kremlin’s air assets.
What’s next?
Ukraine has proposed holding more rounds of talks before the end of the month, but hopes are not high that the two sides can reach a peace deal under the current negotiations format.
Umerov said only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin could smooth out the issues around a ceasefire agreement.
President Trump has expressed growing frustration with the lack of movement after declaring he could bring about a quick end to the war.
Last week the president lashed out at Putin after Moscow for several straight days hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles, saying that the Russian leader “has gone absolutely CRAZY!” a rare rebuke.
But while Trump has suggested Washington could impose tough sanctions on Russia, so far he has delayed imposing any such punishment.
That action could instead be done by the U.S. Senate, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), an ally of Trump, last week announcing his chamber will move forward on a bill to impose sanctions on Russia, perhaps before the Group of Seven summit in late June.
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