Second spherical of Ukraine-Russia talks finish with PoW deal however no ceasefire

Negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul ended with out settlement on a ceasefire on Monday, however with all sides agreeing to interchange extra prisoners.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, mentioned the 2 facets had agreed to interchange 1,000 prisoners of struggle every, with the opportunity of swapping an extra 200 PoWs. He mentioned an settlement had additionally been made to go back the stays of killed carrier group of workers, however added that this may take cautious preparation.

Zelenskyy didn’t participate within the talks however was once talking all through a talk over with to Lithuania, the place he referred to as for more potent sanctions on Russia if it didn’t conform to a ceasefire.

He mentioned his negotiators had given their Russian opposite numbers a listing of just about 400 kidnapped Ukrainian kids that Kyiv sought after Moscow to go back house, however that the Russian delegation agreed to paintings on returning simplest 10 of them.

Ukrainian officers mentioned that the focal point of the prisoner change will have to be the wounded and ill in addition to younger squaddies between 18 and 25 years previous. Russian officers showed that “all” ill and wounded prisoners can be swapped, and that the change would contain a minimum of 1,000 PoWs.

Monday’s negotiations happened on the Çırağan Palace, an infinite 19th-century Ottoman edifice at the banks of the Bosphorus which is now a luxurious resort. In certainly one of its expansive high-ceilinged convention chambers, the 2 delegations, every a few dozen robust, sat at lengthy tables dealing with every different, about 10 metres aside. The Russians all got here in darkish fits, whilst the Ukrainians had been most commonly in army uniform. The entire assembly took not up to two hours.

After the talks, Ukraine’s head negotiator and defence minister, Rustem Umerov, mentioned the go back of the kidnapped kids “is a fundamental priority for us”.

“If Russia is genuinely committed to a peace process, the return of at least half the children on this list is positive,” Umerov mentioned.

The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, showed simplest that it had won a listing of 339 names of folks Ukraine sought after returned, however didn’t remark additional.

The global prison court docket in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and a senior aide in 2023 for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian kids.

At Monday’s assembly in Istanbul, Ukrainian officers mentioned that the Russians rejected Kyiv’s name for an unconditional ceasefire of a minimum of a month, however had as a substitute passed over a written proposal which the Ukrainians mentioned they would want extra time to check sooner than responding. They recommended the talks will have to reconvene against the tip of June.

The Russian state information company, RIA, mentioned the Russian record proposed two choices for a ceasefire, certainly one of which will require Ukraine to start out a whole withdrawal of its troops from 4 of its areas occupied by means of Russia. RIA described the second one possibility simplest as a “package” containing numerous unspecified prerequisites.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, mentioned in the meantime his govt sought after to organize a summit between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.

“My desire is to bring Putin and Zelenskyy together in Istanbul or Ankara – also to invite Trump to this meeting as well,” Erdogan mentioned after a cupboard assembly in Ankara. “We will take steps for this meeting after the latest talks.”

Zelenskyy has many times mentioned he is able to meet Putin, and on Monday, Umerov restated Kyiv’s want for a summit.

“We believe that all the key issues can only be solved at the level of leaders … with the possible involvement of other leaders such as the president of the United States,” the defence minister mentioned.

Heorhii Tykhyi, the Ukrainian overseas ministry spokesperson, mentioned: “If Putin says he is ready to meet tomorrow, our president Zelenskyy is ready to meet him tomorrow.”

Last month, Zelenskyy challenged Putin to fulfill him in Ankara for a summit recommended by means of Donald Trump, however the Russian chief didn’t reply, and has despatched mid-level officers to the talks as a substitute.

Briefing journalists after Monday’s talks, Medinsky mentioned that the memorandum given to the Ukrainian delegation integrated proposed “steps towards a full ceasefire”. He added that Moscow had recommended quick ceasefires of 2 or 3 days at some portions of the entrance “so that commanders can collect the bodies of their soldiers”. But he didn’t specify the place Russia was once proposing such native truces will have to happen. The Ukrainian facet didn’t reply publicly to the proposal.

Both facets stepped up their army operations sooner than the Istanbul talks, with the Ukrainians wearing out a fancy drone strike on concentrated on Russian bomber planes on 4 army airfields throughout Russia, as a long way away as Siberia.

Ukrainian officers mentioned that Sunday’s remote-controlled drone operation, codename Operation Spiderweb, were 18 months within the making plans, and had succeeded in destructive or destroying 41 planes together with Tu-160 and Tu-22 bombers, in addition to Tu-95 used to release cruise missiles in opposition to Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence put the full of Russian subject matter losses at $7bn (£5.2bn).

Ukraine’s high minister, Denys Shmyhal, referred to as it a “very accurate military operation”, including that so long as Russia rejected a ceasefire and persisted to hold out assaults on Ukrainian civilians, Ukraine may just proceed to broaden new tactics to bog down Russia’s capability to hold out missile or drone assaults.

“Innovative technologies played a really crucial role in this operation, and these technologies now are the game-changers on the battlefield. And I believe that Ukraine has many other ideas, technologies, how to move ahead,” Shmyhal instructed the France24 tv channel. “We are working constantly to do our best to [restrict] Russian possibility to attack Ukraine … We continue to clear our sky from Russian bombers, and we will do the same in other spheres, including on the ground.”