More than three years into Europe’s deadliest war since 1945, there was a small step forward for diplomacy on Friday.
Delegations from Ukraine and Russia came face-to-face for talks for the first time since March 2022 – one month after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour. The setting was an Ottoman- era palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Pressure and encouragement from Turkey and the US helped get the warring parties there.
There were no handshakes, and half the Ukrainian delegation wore camouflage military fatigues – a reminder that their nation is under attack.
The room was decked with Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian flags – two of each – and a large flower arrangement – a world away from the shattered cities and swollen graveyards of Ukraine. Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, told the delegations there were two paths ahead – one road leading to peace, and the other leading to more death and destruction.
The talks lasted less than two hours and sharp divisions soon emerged. The Kremlin made “new and unacceptable demands”, according to a Ukrainian official. That included insisting Kyiv withdraw its troops from large parts of its own territory, he said, in exchange for a ceasefire.
While there was no breakthrough on the crucial issue of a truce – as expected – there is news of one tangible result.
Each side will return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other.
“This was the very good end to a very difficult day,” said Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Serhiy Kyslytsya, and “potentially excellent news for 1,000 Ukrainian families.”
The swap will take place soon, said Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led his country’s delegation. “We know the date,” he said, “we’re not announcing it just yet.”
He said “the next step” should be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin. That request was “noted” according to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky – a presidential aide.
He said the Russian delegation was satisfied with the talks, and ready to continue contacts.
That was a change from Thursday when Russia’s Foreign Ministry called President Zelensky “a clown and a loser.” But there are fears – among Ukraine and some of its allies – that Russia is engaging in diplomacy simply to buy time, to distract from international pressure for a ceasefire, and to try to stave off the 18th round of European sanctions. The EU says they are already in the works.
And while the two sides have now sat around the table, President Trump has said the only talks that count will be those between him and President Putin.
He announced on Thursday, mid-flight on Air Force One, that “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.”
It’s unclear when that meeting will be. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says top-level talks are “certainly needed,” but preparing a summit will take time.
Whenever those talks happen, President Zelensky is unlikely to be invited.
