A second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine held today in Istanbul. Turkish officials said, a day after a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the aim of the meeting was to evaluate the conditions for a ceasefire, to discuss a possible meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, and to look at more prisoner exchange opportunities.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv’s delegation, announced after the talks that a new prisoner exchange had been agreed to follow up on the biggest prisoner swap of the war brokered at the last round of talks. He said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people.
Umerov said, Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes that only a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin can resolve the many issues of contention. Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Kyiv’s delegation had handed over a list of children it said had been deported to Russia and which it wanted back.
Moscow says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting.
The two sides had been expected to discuss their respective and wildly different ideas for what a full ceasefire and a longer term path. The talk held amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said the U.S. could abandon its role as a mediator if there is no progress.
The talks, the second such direct contacts between the sides since 2022, had already begun nearly two hours later than scheduled with no explanation of the delay. The Peace talks ended barely an hour after they began.
