Apart from agreeing to swap 1,000 prisoners each, Moscow sticks to maximalist demands in Istanbul

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failed to reach a breakthrough during their first direct peace talks since 2022, held in Istanbul without either Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sitting down under pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, Ukraine had pushed for a 30-day ceasefire before the talks. Moscow rejected this, appearing to stick to its maximalist demands, including sweeping restrictions on Ukrainian sovereignty.

Images from the meeting, held at the Dolmabahce Palace, were stark: a row of Russian delegates in dark suits sitting opposite Ukrainians wearing their trademark green camouflage combat fatigues.

The only tangible result of the talks, which lasted less than two hours, was that the two sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, the largest prisoner swap of the conflict.

While the meeting appeared to achieve little toward ending the conflict, it represents a symbolic win for Putin, who refused to accept the 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies had demanded as a prerequisite for talks.

The Russian leader has been engaged in a delicate balancing act with the US president, appearing to support peace talks to stay in Trump’s favour, while pushing for terms that in effect amount to Ukraine’s capitulation.

The outcome is likely to be seen as a setback for Zelenskyy, coming after his bold gamble of challenging Putin to a direct meeting in the hope of winning favour with Washington and exposing what Ukraine describes as the Russian leader’s hollow promises to end the war.

Vladimir Medinsky, the ultra-conservative head of Russia’s delegation, said Moscow was satisfied with the results and was prepared to keep talking to Kyiv.

Both sides said they discussed organising a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, who have met only once, in 2019.

The stalemate appears to pave the way for a US-Russia summit, after Trump undercut the talks on Thursday by saying that “nothing is going to happen” until he meets Putin personally. On Friday, the US president, who had grown increasingly impatient with the slow pace of negotiations, said he would meet his Russian counterpart “as soon as we can set it up”, raising fears in Kyiv that they could be sidelined while others decide their fate.

Read More: Russia and Ukraine agree prisoner swap but peace talks fail to make progress

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