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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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Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken to Donald Trump over the phone, after Moscow and Kyiv sat face-to-face in Istanbul for the first direct peace talks in three years.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each in the coming days, the head of Moscow’s delegation has claimed, one of the largest such swaps since the conflict began. Vladimir Medinsky added that a satisfied Moscow team was ready to continue speaking with Ukraine.
Kyiv was far less positive about the talks, accusing Moscow of making “unacceptable demands” which were “detached from reality”.
Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Zelensky agreed the Russian position in peace talks was “unacceptable”, the British prime minister said, adding that they had spoken with Mr Trump.
The negotiations, held in Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace and mediated by a Turkish team, took place after a turbulent two days cast doubt over whether the meeting would take place at all.
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 be involved.
Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump said he will meet Vladimir Putin “as soon as we can set it up.”
The former US ambassador to Ukraine, who resigned from the role in April, has said that she quit the post because she disagreed with President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
Ambassador Bridget Brink, who served as ambassador to Ukraine from May 2022 until her departure last month, outlined the reasons for her departure for the first time in an op-ed published on Friday by the Detroit Free Press.
In the piece, Brink hit out at Trump for pressuring Ukraine rather than Russia.
“I respect the president’s right and responsibility to determine U.S. foreign policy ― with proper checks and balances by U.S. Congress,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia,” Brink said.
Brink, a long-serving career diplomat, said that she therefore felt it was her duty to step down.
“Peace at any price is not peace at all ― it is appeasement,” she said.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has said Kyiv believes the next step after Friday’s talks about the war with a Russian delegation should be a meeting of the nation’s two leaders.
Umerov told reporters that the first priority in the talks on Friday in Istanbul was to secure the release of prisoners of war, and the second, to secure a ceasefire, adding that the next step should be leader-level talks.
Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Serhiy Kyslytsia, said he hoped the nations’ two leaders would meet “sooner rather than later”.
Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Donald Trump while in Albania for a meeting of top European leaders, and that Russia was not showing that it was ready for peace in Ukraine.
“We just had a phone call with @POTUS while in Albania. Once again, President Putin refuses to respond to the unconditional ceasefire proposal put forward by the Americans and supported by Ukraine and the Europeans,” Macron wrote on X.
“By rejecting the ceasefire and dialogue with Ukraine, Russia shows it does not want peace and is merely trying to buy time by continuing the war,” added Macron.
Read the full report on today’s events:
The United States will begin discussions with European allies to reduce U.S. troops in Europe later this year, US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker said on Friday.
“It will be certainly after the (Hague Nato) summit, sometime later in the year, we are going to start those conversations”, Whitaker said, addressing a conference in Estonia.
“Nothing has been determined but as soon as we do, we are going to have these conversations in the structure of Nato”, he added.
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.”
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