Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul end, no positive signs of agreement

Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Istanbul on Friday to hold direct talks for the first time since the failed talks in early February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

There were no immediate signs of progress in narrowing the differences between the parties, as the Ukrainian side categorically rejected Moscow's conditions during talks that lasted less than two hours, Reuters reports.

Friday's talks capped a busy week of diplomacy, fueled by efforts by US President Donald Trump to broker a deal to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and a growing number of Ukrainian civilians.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators began their meeting after 1:00 PM, along with officials from the host country, Turkey.

Several separate meetings were also held, involving American, Ukrainian, Russian, European, and Turkish officials.

Moscow has rejected calls from Ukraine, European countries and the United States for a full 30-day ceasefire, saying the ceasefire can only come about through talks, and Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's invitation to meet face-to-face for the first time since 2019.

Opening the talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it was “extremely important” to implement a ceasefire “as soon as possible” and that “it is also very important that these talks serve as a basis for a meeting between leaders. We believe wholeheartedly that it is possible to achieve peace through constructive negotiations.”

Ahead of the talks, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said on Facebook that peace is possible only if “Russia shows its readiness to take concrete actions, including a complete ceasefire for at least 30 days and the implementation of humanitarian measures, such as the return of Ukrainian children, forcibly expelled,” as well as the exchange of all prisoners of war.

Putin's decision to send a low-level delegation to talks - which he proposed earlier this week and which Trump urged Ukraine to accept - made expectations of any breakthrough in these talks very low.

Trump, who was on a visit to the Middle East, had signaled that he might travel to Turkey to attend if Putin also attended.

"Nothing will happen until Putin and I meet," Trump said after the Kremlin announced it would send a low-level delegation.

On May 16, Trump said he was returning to Washington. “Let’s see what happens with Russia and Ukraine,” he said, adding that he would meet with Putin “as soon as the meeting is arranged.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on May 15 that there will be no progress until Trump and Putin sit "face to face".

Rubio met with his Ukrainian and Turkish counterparts on May 16 and reiterated "the U.S. position that the killings must stop," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a Trump-Putin meeting to discuss bilateral relations, Ukraine and other issues is "absolutely necessary," but will take time to prepare and should not be held if it does not yield results.

Putin launched the full-scale invasion eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and instigated war in the eastern Donbas region in 2014.

Russia now controls about a fifth of Ukraine's territory, but has failed to achieve Putin's goal of subjugating the country, which has been independent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The only direct peace talks broke down in the spring of 2022, as the sides clashed over major issues and following the revelation of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha, a town they abandoned as they retreated from northern Ukraine after failing to capture Kiev.

In those negotiations, Russia was seeking an agreement that, according to analysts, would mean Kiev's capitulation – making Ukraine a permanent neutral country with a small and powerless army, limited sovereignty, and little or no access to security support from the West.

Russian officials have suggested that Moscow has not given up on its goals despite the failure to capture Kiev and the slow progress on the battlefield, where capturing small territories has cost Moscow heavy casualties.

The Kremlin has called Friday's talks a "resumption" of the 2022 negotiations, and the Russian delegation is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide and former culture minister who also led the Russian team in 2022.

Zelensky described the Russian delegation as "decorative" and said its composition showed that "they are not serious enough about negotiations."

"I think Putin made a mistake by sending a low-level delegation," said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as he arrived in Tirana for the European Political Community summit.

"The ball is clearly in his court now. He has to act. He has to be serious if he wants peace. So I think all the pressure is now on Putin," Rutte added.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Putin was "playing games, which shows he is not serious about peace."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it is clear that "President Zelensky is ready for a meeting, but President Putin never showed up, and this shows his true position. Therefore, we will increase the pressure."

Von der Leyen said the EU was preparing a new sanctions package. She said the measures would target the shadow fleet of old cargo ships that Russia is using to evade international sanctions, as well as the Nord Stream gas pipeline consortium./rel