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The critical talks ended after a turbulent two days cast doubt over whether the meeting would take place at all
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Russian and Ukrainian delegations have emerged from face-to-face peace talks, the first in three years, after a turbulent two days cast doubt over whether the meeting would take place at all.
Sitting at a U-shaped table with Turkish mediators at its head, negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv spent about two hours facing off in the Dolmabahce Palace, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.
Just as the talks were scheduled to begin, Kyiv accused Russia of “undermining” peace talks in Istanbul by demanding last-minute that Turkish and US representatives not get involved. Vladimir Medinsky, the leader of Russia’s low-level delegation, was meeting with a US government official in an Istanbul hotel at the time.
Hopes for the Istanbul talks remain low, after Vladimir Putin declined to join the talks at Volodymyr Zelensky’s invite, sending instead a low-level team headed by Kremlin aide Mr Medinsky. Mr Zelensky’s team is led by defence minister Rustem Umerov.
A Ukrainian source said Russia’s demands during the ceasefire negotiations were “detached from reality” and went beyond anything they have previously discussed.
Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump said he will meet Vladimir Putin “as soon as we can set it up.”
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each in the coming days, Moscow’s delegation has claimed, one of the largest such swaps since the conflict began.
Vladimir Medinsky, head of the delegation, added that Moscow was satisfied with the results and was ready to keep talking with Kyiv.
Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of key European leaders held a phone call with US president Donald Trump on Friday after the conclusion of the Istanbul talks, the Ukrainian president’s spokesperson said.
Sir Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk were involved in the phone call.
Details of the conversation will follow soon, the spokesperson added.
Ukraine requested a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin during talks in Istanbul, the Russian delegation as confirmed.
Putin declined the Ukrainian president’s offer of a face-to-face meeting this week, instead sending a low-level delegation to meet with a Kyiv team.
Pope Leo XIV has proposed the Vatican as a venue for Russia-Ukrainian negotiations after talks in Istanbul failed to bear fruit, according to the Vatican’s secretary of state.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin described the outcome of the Turkey talks as “tragic”.
“It’s all tragic because we hoped that a process would begin, perhaps slowly, but with a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Instead, we are back to square one,” he said on the sidelines of an event dedicated to the Istanbul summit, Italian newspaper La Stampa.
“Now we will see what to do, but the situation is very difficult, dramatic,” Card Parolin added.
If necessary, the Pope will “provide the Vatican, the Holy See, for a direct meeting between the two sides”.
Speaking to Reuters news agency before an exchange of artillery fire with Russian forces, 26-year-old Roman – who uses the call sign “Cowboy” – said he had little faith Moscow would agree to a demand from Kyiv and Western states for a 30-day ceasefire.
“At the moment peace is not possible,” Roman said. “We are certain that the enemy is not going to stop. Our task, as soldiers, is to hold our positions, keep on fighting, not to give up.”
The group of soldiers commanded by Roman – who did not give his full name in line with Ukrainian military protocol – was dug into woodland in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is largely controlled by Russian forces.
One of Roman’s men, Serhii, said when asked if he saw a prospect of a ceasefire: “No hope.”
“Because there was a lot of conversation before. No results,” said Serhii, a 36-year-old with the callsign Steward. “I just do my work. For our victory, to stop the war.”
A senior Ukrainian official has accused Russia of introducing “unacceptable demands” that had not been previously raised, following the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years.
The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to make official statements, said Russia made demands that had not been previously discussed, including calling for Ukraine to withdraw from large areas of Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The Ukrainian delegate said it seemed as if the Russian delegation “deliberately wants to throw nonstarters on the table in order to walk away from today’s meeting without any results”.
The meeting in Turkey is the first direct negotiation between Russia and Ukraine since 2022, and the Ukrainian official said Kyiv’s delegation was prepared to “achieve a lot today”.
Volodymyr Zelensky said Donald Trump “wants to end the war”, and called on more US support to secure peace.
“President Trump wants to end this war. We need to keep working closely with him and stay as coordinated as possible,” Zelensky said.
“Long-term US support is also essential. An American backstop is needed. It’s important that we all work together, on every level, to make that happen. I thank everyone who is helping.”
Volodymyr Zelensky said “the world must respond” if it becomes clear the Russian delegation in Turkey had “no real authority” to agree to a ceasefire deal, and reiterated that Ukraine was ready for the war to end.
Sharing more comments on social media after addressing world leaders at a summit in Albania, Zelensky said: “This war must end — and it must end justly. Ukraine needs peace. Peace in Europe depends on whether Ukraine will get it.
“Our number-one priority is a full, unconditional, and honest ceasefire. This must happen immediately to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy.”
Zelensky said the “low-level” delegation sent to Turkey showed that Vladimir Putin wanted the negotiations to be a “staged, empty process”.
The new Pope Leo XIV said “Peace cannot be built apart from truth”, in posts on social media as news the Russian and Ukrainian meeting had ended.
“Working for peace requires acting justly. Every effort should be made to overcome global inequalities, which allow opulence and destitution to carve deep divides between continents, countries, and even within individual societies,” he wrote on X.
Talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul on Friday have finished after around two hours, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said, after their first direct peace talks in more than three years of war.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the head of the MIT intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, also attended the talks.
After it concluded, Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X: “This week, we had a real chance to move toward ending the war — if only Putin hadn’t been afraid to come to Türkiye. I was there ready for a direct meeting with him to resolve all key issues. He didn’t agree to anything.”
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