The talks in Istanbul lasted just over an hour. Russia and Ukraine came out with a deal on prisoners and bodies, and nothing on a ceasefire.
It was the second round of direct negotiations between the two sides, and expectations had been low from the start. Ukraine’s delegation, led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said Russia had again rejected an unconditional ceasefire, a key demand of Kyiv and its allies in Europe and the US. Umerov said Ukraine wanted a full truce of at least 30 days on land, at sea and in the air “to end the killings now”. Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsia confirmed the rejection.
Two sets of proposals
Umerov said Kyiv had handed its proposals to Moscow a few days earlier, while the Russians presented theirs only at the table. Neither text has been published officially. Russian state media put out what they described as the key points of Moscow’s position: a Ukrainian military withdrawal from four partly occupied regions in the south-east, demobilisation of its soldiers, and international recognition of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea as Russian. Other conditions included a ban on Ukraine joining military alliances, a cap on the size of its army, Russian as an official language and an end to sanctions. Ukraine and its allies say such terms amount to de facto capitulation.
The Russian side said it had offered a two- or three-day truce “in certain areas” of the front, without details. Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow preferred to talk about “lasting peace”. Volodymyr Zelensky, answering the idea of a temporary ceasefire to collect the dead, wrote on X: “I think ‘idiots’, because the whole point of a ceasefire is to stop people from becoming dead.”
What was agreed
The two sides agreed to exchange all sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war, plus everyone under 25. No timeframe was given. Medinsky said Russia would hand over the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers the following week, and Zelensky said Ukraine would return 6,000 Russian dead, though he gave no date. Ukraine also gave Russia a list of hundreds of children it says were forcibly taken to Russia.
The first round, on 16 May, had produced only a swap of 1,000 prisoners each. Ukraine’s negotiators now expect Russia’s response to their proposals by the end of June and want to prepare for direct talks between Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. There is no sign yet of such a meeting.
Zelensky, who was at a summit in Vilnius that Monday, said that with no meaningful signals from Russia to end the war, “it is important to strengthen our defence”. He called for more sanctions. Moscow controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, annexed in 2014.
In Washington, Donald Trump has pushed for a quick settlement but has so far held off on tougher sanctions on Russia. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said he was “open” to a three-way summit with Zelensky and Putin. Last month Trump called Putin “absolutely crazy” after a heavy drone and missile attack, and the Kremlin replied that he was showing signs of “emotional overload”.
