Ukraine has accused Russia of undermining peace talks in Turkey, with a last minute demand – but negotiations are under way in Istanbul. On the battlefield, Ukraine has revealed the loss of an F-16 fighter jet. Follow the latest below and listen to the Daily podcast as you scroll.
Friday 16 May 2025 12:30, UK
Back to the battlefield, where Russia is claiming a success today.
Russian troops have captured the village of Vilne Pole in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, according to the Russian defence ministry.
The claim is yet to be independently verified but shows the ongoing fighting, despite today’s direct talks between Russians and Ukrainians.
Earlier, we also brought you reports of explosions in Dnipro (see 11.26 post).
While talks are under way in Istanbul, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Albania for a summit.
He’s been welcomed to the European Political Community Summit by the country’s prime minister Edi Rama at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana.
Dominic Waghorn, Sky News’ international affairs editor, has been in Ukraine reporting on an overlooked aspect of the war.
It’s relevant today as Kyiv’s delegation makes securing a prisoner swap one of its priorities:
In all the horrors of this war, the plight of thousands of civilians abducted by Russia is one of the worst, but is in danger of being overlooked.
Their fate is not mentioned, for instance, in Donald Trump’s peace plan – which is currently being wrestled over in Istanbul – let alone any demands they are released by Russia.
But their plight is truly horrific. Ukraine has identified almost 16,000 names of people lost in a gulag of 180 prisons in Russian-held Ukraine and in Russia itself, as far away as Siberia.
Warning: The report below contains details of torture and sexual abuse
It is a war crime to take civilians hostage during a conflict but that has not deterred Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Worse, there is abundant evidence they are being tortured, sexually abused and killed in custody.
Turkey’s foreign minister has introduced talks between Russia and Ukraine – the first direct meeting between the two countries in three years.
Hakan Fidan said it was critical for a ceasefire to be achieved as soon as possible.
The cameras were then switched off, as the proper talks began.
We’ll bring you the latest as we get it.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is “certainly necessary”.
It comes after Trump said earlier today he would meet Putin “as soon as we can set it up” (see 10.23 post).
“Such a meeting is certainly necessary,” Peskov said.
“It is necessary both primarily from the point of view of bilateral Russian-US relations and from the point of view of having a serious conversation at the highest level about international affairs and on regional problems, including, of course, about the crisis over Ukraine,” the spokesman said.
Commenting on the Istanbul talks, Peskov said that the Russian negotiating team was in constant communication with Moscow and that Putin was receiving real-time updates.
Away from Istanbul and the peace talks, we’re getting reports of explosions in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
National broadcaster Suspilne reported the blasts, amid an air alert in the region.
Ukraine’s air force had warned of a missile in the Dnipropetrovsk region, of which Dnipro is the capital, minutes before the blasts were reported.
The Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul are now in place for today’s direct talks.
They seem to be running a bit behind schedule as the meeting was reportedly set to start at 10.30am UK time.
As we’ve just reported, it comes after US officials met (briefly) with the Russian delegation, and amid claims of Russia undermining the long-sought peace talks with last-minute demands to not have any other countries in attendance.
We reported earlier that the head of Russia’s delegation in Istanbul had arrived for talks with the US which were set to take place before a direct meeting between representatives from Moscow and Kyiv.
Vladimir Medinsky has now reportedly left talks with US officials, according to a Reuters witness.
Russia is demanding one-on-one talks with Ukraine in Istanbul without the presence of Turkey and the US, a Ukrainian diplomatic source says.
The source said it showed Moscow was “undermining the peace effort”.
“Yet another sign of the Russian side undermining the peace effort. We came to have a serious conversation, while (the) Russians are putting forward demands, conditions.
“This makes us doubt whether (Russian President Vladimir) Putin sent them to solve issues or just stall the process,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
“There is only one reason for the Russians to be afraid of having the US in the room – they came to stall the process, not solve issues, and they want to hide this from the United States.”
Ukraine’s priorities for today’s talks in Istanbul are emerging.
It will make securing a ceasefire a priority, according to a Ukrainian diplomatic source, who added there was also a need for “confidence-building measures”.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said Ukrainian negotiators would also raise the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The pair last met in 2019.
Ukraine’s three demands
Peace is also only possible if Russia agrees to a 30-day ceasefire, the return of all abducted children and an all-for-all prisoner of war swap, Reuters reports the head of the Ukrainian delegation has said.
“There needs to be a ceasefire. Real, durable and well-monitored,” the Ukrainian source added.
“There also needs to be humanitarian confidence-building measures, such as the return of Ukrainian children, detained civilians, [and the] exchange of prisoners of war on an all-for-all basis.”
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