 "Chief of the Turkish General Staff, Metin Gurak, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Turkey's intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, attend a meeting at Ciragan Palace on the day of the second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 2, 2025. (Photo: Reuters)")
A day after the largest exchange of missiles and drones, Ukrainian and Russian officials are on Monday holding direct talks in Turkey’s Istanbul.
Turkish officials are mediating talks between Ukraine and Russia. This is the second round of talks between the two countries that began last month. These talks are the first time the two sides are engaging directly since negotiations broke down over Russia’s maximalist demands in the early weeks of the war in 2022.
The talks come after Ukraine carried out an unprecedented drone attack inside Russia in which Ukrainian officials said more than 40 Russian long-range bomber aircraft —nearly a third of the entire bombers’ fleet— were destroyed. Russia also launched the largest drone attack at Ukraine so far involving 472 drones — one of these strikes at a military training facility killed at least 12 Ukrainian soldiers and injured around 60.
In Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation is led by Defence Minister Rustem and the Russian delegation is led by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky. The two sides have come to the negotiating table at the initiative of US President Donald Trump.
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As Russian leader Vladimir Putin continues to ramp up attacks and stick to maximalist demands, there are no expectations of a breakthrough in this round of talks. Ahead of the talks, US and Ukrainian officials had criticised Russia for not submitting its term sheet in advance. On its part, Ukraine has stated its broad terms.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIn a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy laid down the country’s demands: a full and unconditional ceasefire, the release of prisoners, and the return of abducted children. Russia is expected to submit its conditions to end the war in ongoing talks.
There are indications that Russia is going to stick to its maximalist demands. Ahead of the meeting, Reuters had reported that Putin has finalised a set of demands to end the war in Ukraine : a written pledge by major Western powers to stop the eastward expansion of Nato, guaranteed neutrality of Ukraine, the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia, the resolution of the issue of frozen Russian assets, and protection of Russian speakers in Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Putin has been emboldened by US President Donald Trump, who has rewarded Russia by accepting his terms at every step . Even though Putin has rejected all ceasefire proposals so far and Ukraine has accepted all of them, and Putin has rejected all public pleas by Trump to stop attacks on civilians, Trump has not put any pressure on him. Instead, he has continued to put pressure on Ukraine.
Trump has also backtracked from his own demand of an immediate 30-day ceasefire and instead accepted Putin’s demand for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine . It is an open secret that Putin has been using direct talks involving low-level delegations to prolong the conflict and maximising battlefield gains to have more leverage to push his maximalist agenda.