Talks between Ukraine and Russia ended on Friday with an agreement on swapping thousands of war prisoners, but without making any progress on a lasting ceasefire due to Moscow’s maximalist territorial demands.
The US and Turkey-brokered discussions in Istanbul, the first in three years, wrapped up after just two hours. US President Donald Trump had signalled ahead of the talks that no breakthrough was likely until he met Vladimir Putin himself.
Ukrainian officials familiar with the talks said that Russia had made “unacceptable” demands, linking any agreement on a ceasefire to Kyiv’s forces completely pulling out of four eastern Ukrainian regions only partly under Moscow’s control: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv’s delegation, said after the meeting that the main focus of the talks was a ceasefire and “modalities” on how to achieve it.
Prisoners of war exchanges and the release of Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia were also brought up, Umerov said, as well as a future meeting between presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin.
Vladimir Medinsky, a presidential aide to Putin and former culture minister who headed the Russian delegation, expressed satisfaction over how the talks went and said that the two sides had agreed there would be a 1,000 by 1,000 person prisoner swap.
He confirmed that the Ukrainian side had requested a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. He said they had agreed for both sides to each present a detailed plan for what they would like a ceasefire to look like, and would continue talks after that.
Zelenskyy said after conclusion of the talks that he held a phone conversation with Trump about the meeting, together with the leaders of France, Germany, the UK and Poland. Zelenskyy had joined more than 40 European leaders in Albania for a meeting of the European Political Community, which expressed support for Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, said Putin’s position was “clearly unacceptable” in a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Merz said that European leaders were “very disappointed” that Russia had not seized the opportunity to make progress on a ceasefire and peace agreement.
“Ukraine is ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace,” Zelenskyy said. “Our position — if the Russians reject a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings, tough sanctions must follow.”
The meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian sides was chaired by Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, who said it was “critically important that a ceasefire begins as soon as possible”.
The delegations sat across from each other at a large U-shaped table at the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, the former administrative seat of the Ottoman Empire.
Previous peace talks in Istanbul, which had also been led by Medinsky and Umerov, broke down in the spring of 2022 after Kyiv uncovered the atrocities carried out by Moscow’s forces in Bucha and other areas of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said on Friday that the Russian delegation sent by Putin was “very low level” and that the Russian leader had been “afraid to come to Turkey”.
He added: “President Trump want to end this war. US support is essential. An American backstop is needed.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Putin had previously announced ceasefires “he never respected”.
“President Putin continued striking Ukraine and proposed a meeting between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey. President Zelenskyy was ready to meet. President Putin did not turn up. This tells us one thing: President Putin does not want peace.”
Von der Leyen said the next set of sanctions would lower the western price cap imposed on Russian crude, impose a ban on the Nord Stream gas pipeline and tighten restrictions on Moscow’s shadow fleet and the Russian financial sector.
In Ukraine, sirens blared before dawn ahead of Friday’s talks, as Russia launched another missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other cities, a sign which Kyiv said showed that Moscow had no intention of stopping its war. Ukraine’s air force reported that one of its F-16 fighter jets had been lost while “carrying out a mission to repel an enemy air attack”.
Senior Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times earlier in the week that Russia appeared to be gearing up for a larger offensive, moving forces from Kursk and elsewhere to strategic hotspots on the battlefield, rather than signalling a readiness for peace talks.
Deep State, a Ukrainian analytical group close to the defence ministry, reported in recent days that Russian armed forces had seized more ground in the eastern Donetsk region, particularly around the flashpoint cities of Pokrovsk, Toretsk and Chasiv Yar.
Ukraine has managed to prevent a major breakthrough along the 1,000km frontline, but it has struggled to halt the Russians’ grinding advance. Kyiv is likely to face increasing difficulty as it grapples with a problematic mobilisation campaign and as US-supplied arms and ammunition run low.
Additional reporting by Barbara Moens in London and Laura Pitel in Berlin
