Negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place in Istanbul with Turkish mediation. According to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, the meeting was scheduled for 13:00. Journalists' sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the meeting would take place at the Çiragan Palace. In May, the parties talked in another place - at the Dolmabahce residence. It was there that the 2022 talks took place.
Just like last time, it was a trilateral meeting. Representatives of Turkey will mediate the talks.
17:31. The Russians make their statements. The head of the delegation, Medinsky, said that their ‘memorandum’ provides options for a ceasefire. They are talking about a ceasefire for 2-3 days in ‘specific areas’ in order to retrieve the bodies of the dead.
17:12. Here are the main points from the briefing of the Ukrainian delegation after the conversation:
- agreed to exchange all prisoners for all prisoners of war who have serious illnesses
- exchange all military personnel aged 18-25
- exchange of several thousand bodies
- Ukraine handed over a list of hundreds of children that Russia should return home
- Kyiv proposes to hold a new round of talks this month, by the 30th
- Ukraine believes that Zelenskyy and Putin should meet, possibly with the participation of Donald Trump
- The Ukrainian delegation has just received written points on Russia's vision of the ceasefire, and it will study them and respond within a week. Russia has not responded to the Ukrainian points submitted to it in advance.
16:51. Defence Minister Rustem Umerov gives a briefing on the results of the meeting. He said that they did not agree on a complete ceasefire. However, there is an agreement on the exchange of all seriously wounded prisoners of war and soldiers aged 18-25.
16:27. Suspilne reports that the talks have ended. The meeting lasted about an hour.
16:07. Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Yermak said that today during the talks in Istanbul, the Ukrainian side officially handed over to the Russian side a list of Ukrainian children to be returned.
Meanwhile, the Russian side said that the negotiations had already been completed. They lasted about an hour.
"We are talking about hundreds of children whom Russia has illegally deported, forcibly displaced or kept in the temporarily occupied territories. Back in March, at a meeting in Jeddah, we confirmed our readiness for a 30-day ceasefire with a humanitarian component," he said.
14:45. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry announces the start of negotiations.
14:09. Suspilne reports from the scene that a meeting between Umerov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has just ended. Negotiations with the Russians will start soon.
13:41. First Deputy Foreign Minister and member of the delegation Serhiy Kyslytsya posted a photo from the hall where the meeting will take place. He said that everything is ready to start.
12:47. The Russians announced the arrival of their delegates at the venue. Seven minutes later, the Ukrainian delegation arrived, BBC reports. The head of Turkish intelligence also arrived at the meeting point.
12:17. Before talking to the Russians, Ukrainian negotiators Oleksandr Bevz and Serhiy Kyslytsya met with representatives of Germany, Italy and the UK, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
"The parties coordinated their positions before today's meeting of the Ukrainian and Russian delegations," he said.
The Ukrainians reaffirmed their commitment to peaceful efforts.
11:52. NV shows a video of the arrival of the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Defence Minister Umerov, in Istanbul.
According to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, the meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations is scheduled for 13:00. Journalists’ sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the meeting will take place at the Çiragan Palace. In May, they spoke in another place – at the Dolmabahçe residence.
11:32. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will take part in the talks as a mediator. The BBC received this information from the Foreign Ministry.
9:07. The Ukrainian delegation has arrived in Istanbul, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry tells Suspilne. The meeting with the Russians is scheduled for the afternoon.
The Russian delegation had already arrived in Turkey as of 8:00.
Previous negotiations between Ukraine and Russia
Since the spring of 2022, Ukraine and Russia have not held talks to resolve the war. While the negotiating rounds were ongoing, Russia continued to commit atrocities and attack Ukrainian settlements. The last round of negotiations took place on 15 April 2022, after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv Region and the recording of war crimes committed by Russians. The draft discussed by the parties stated that Ukraine should become a “permanently neutral state that will not participate in military blocs” but may join the EU. Crimea and the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions were to remain under Russia’s de facto control. The guarantor countries would be the UK, China, Russia, the US and France.
Ukraine’s negotiators told LB that “we had to buy time until our partners in the West came to their senses and started making decisions that helped us survive. That’s why we tried to engage the Russians in some discussions of the details that they had to constantly coordinate with Moscow.”
Earlier this year, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations were in Saudi Arabia at the same time, but did not communicate with each other. US representatives took turns talking to both of them.
On 16 May, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in person for the first time. The meeting was precipitated by Russia’s de facto refusal to agree to a 30-day ceasefire demanded by the “coalition of the willing” together with US President Donald Trump. Instead of responding to this proposal, Russian leader Putin announced in the middle of the night that Russia would wait for Ukraine at talks in Turkey on 16 May. Ukraine insisted that any meeting should be preceded by a pause in hostilities, but US President Donald Trump said that Kyiv should immediately agree to the Russian proposal. And Kyiv agreed: President Zelenskyy said he would wait in Turkey for Putin in person. Putin did not come.