Russia and Ukraine conclude talks after Kyiv hits bombers

Russia and Ukraine met for a brief second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, agreeing to swap dead and captured soldiers, but otherwise there was no significant progress toward ending the grueling war or even agreeing to a ceasefire.

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said Russia did not agree to an unconditional ceasefire – Ukraine’s central demand for advancing a peace deal – or a bilateral meeting between the two countries’ leaders. Still, both sides agreed to exchange gravely wounded prisoners of war, captives under the age of 25 and the bodies of 6,000 killed soldiers from each side.

He added that Ukraine proposed holding another round of talks at the end of June. The Ukrainian presidential office said Monday evening that “a certain format” on a presidential level is being discussed, including a four-party meeting between leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States.

“This is crucial for making progress in the negotiation process. We’ve been telling Russia for a very long time this war must end, and the whole world supports us in that,” Umerov said. “If Russia is serious about ending the war, it will move forward on this. If not, international sanctions must follow.”

After the first round of talks in mid-May, the two sides agreed to exchange memorandums outlining their respective conditions for ending the war. Ukraine submitted its proposal in advance of the Istanbul meeting, while Russia presented its version during the talks.

Umerov also called for the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russian forces from occupied territories in the country’s east.

“We have provided the other side with a list of several hundred Ukrainian children who were deported to Russia,” he said. “If Russia is genuinely committed to the peace process, then the return of at least half of the children from this list would be a positive indication.”

That point appears to have added tension to the talks, as the head of the Russian delegation, former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, accused Ukraine of “putting on a show aimed at compassionate Europeans” in post-meeting remarks.

“If you want someone to shed a tear, show a child, or better, a child with a kitten,” Medinsky said. “In fact, we are talking about dozens of children. These are children who have not been kidnapped by anyone. There is not a single kidnapped child. There are children who were saved by our soldiers at the cost of their lives, and we are looking for their parents.”

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Russia forcibly removed children from occupied Ukrainian territories. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova over the alleged war crimes of “unlawful deportation” and “unlawful transfer” of children from Ukraine.

Medinsky confirmed agreements on prisoner and body swaps had been reached and added Russia proposed a short-term ceasefire – lasting two to three days – along parts of the front line to allow for the recovery of bodies.

“It’s hot now, and unsanitary conditions are emerging,” he said. Medinsky said Russia was overall “satisfied” with the second round of talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the proposal as “idiotic,” saying Medinsky appeared unaware localized exchanges of killed soldiers are a routine practice, during which “everyone understands that no one is shooting at each other.”

“Ceasefire should be to prevent bodies from appearing in the first place. For them, it’s just a short pause in the war,” Zelenskyy said after a summit of the Bucharest Nine and Nordic countries in Vilnius, Lithuania. “This whole ‘two or three days’ game – it’s just rhetoric.”

Monday’s meeting, held in Istanbul’s lavish Ciragan Palace, kicked off with remarks from Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who thanked the U.S. for facilitating the contact between Russia and Ukraine. Washington, however, did not appear to have sent a representative to Istanbul.

“America’s support and faith in these talks are very important,” Fidan said, adding that President Donald Trump’s “determination to establish peace has opened up a new window of opportunity.”

The talks took place a day after Ukraine launched an unprecedented drone attack targeting Russian military bases. The operation, code-named “Spiderweb,” targeted five strategic airfields in remote parts of the country, including Siberia. According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, the drones had been covertly smuggled into Russia over several months before being deployed.

Russian officials condemned the attack as a “terrorist act,” and several prominent pro-Kremlin commentators accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the talks, calling for harsh retaliation.

“The fact that the meeting took place despite yesterday’s incident is an important success in itself,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ahead of Monday’s talks in Istanbul, Ukrainian officials met with advisers from European allies Germany, Italy and Britain.

Even while the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s defense appears to be wavering, Europe has been increasingly vocal in its backing of Kyiv and about the dangers of Russia. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that the threat of Russia cannot be ignored as he unveiled long-awaited defense spending plans.

Britain is “very alert to the continued threat from Russia, whether that’s continuing in Ukraine or the wider threat,” he said from Scotland.

Zelenskyy said in Vilnius that “if Russia turns the meeting in Istanbul into empty talk, there must be a new level of pressure,” in an apparent hope of reviving the effort by European countries to introduce a new package of harsh sanctions against Russia that was hindered by Trump’s reluctance to impose new restrictions on Moscow.

“New sanctions – and not just from Europe. We need to work on joint sanctions at the (Group of Seven) level, including the United States and everyone in the world who wants peace,” Zelenskyy said. “It’s very important that each of our partners supports exactly this approach.”

The Trump administration, which urged that direct talks take place, has grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress in the negotiations.

The U.S. has proposed a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, something Ukraine agreed to but Russia did not, with Putin saying that many parameters need to be worked out before any cessation of hostilities and instead proposing direct negotiations. In the days since the first round of talks in Istanbul, the two sides have exchanged intense waves of drone attacks. Russia had also launched ballistic missiles that hit Ukrainian cities.

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have repeatedly said the U.S. would pull out of the process if talks continue to stall.

Meanwhile, Kyiv is bracing for another Russian offensive in the summer, aimed at seizing Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a key target Moscow has sought to capture since the war’s outset, according to Ukrainian military officials and analysts.