With little hope for progress, Russians and Ukrainians met in person for less than two hours on Friday in Istanbul for the first direct negotiations to end their war in more than three years.
In the worst conflict in Europe since World War II, which has also left millions of people displaced and devastated vast swaths of Ukraine, Kyiv is calling for a “unconditional ceasefire.”
Moscow claims it sought to resurrect the failed 2022 negotiations in which it made broad territorial and political demands of Ukraine and to address the “root causes” of the conflict.
Video from the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul revealed that Russian and Ukrainian delegations were facing each other while Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan sat at the head of a table in front of Turkish, Russian, and Ukrainian flags.
After slightly over 90 minutes, the negotiations came to an end around 1220 GMT, according to a Turkish foreign ministry source.
A Ukrainian diplomatic source told AFP that Russia was trying to sabotage the negotiations by making “unacceptable” territory demands while the talks were still in progress.
According to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke to AFP, more negotiations are not planned but could happen later on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a “strong reaction” from the international community, including further penalties, if the negotiations fail during a European meeting in Albania.
Zelensky accused Moscow of bringing “empty heads” to the negotiation table, and the two sides threw obscenities at one another for the full day before the talks.
Putin is “afraid.”
However, the meeting’s very existence was a sign of progress, since Washington had been consistent in pressuring both parties to start negotiations.
He had suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin fly to Turkey for the talks, but Putin sent a second-level delegation instead.
Zelensky criticized Russia for not treating the negotiations “seriously” and claimed on Friday that Putin was “afraid” to meet.
Washington and Moscow have also emphasized the necessity of Putin and US President Donald Trump meeting to discuss the crisis.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that “a meeting is undoubtedly necessary” and that “contacts between presidents Putin and Trump are extremely important in the context of the Ukrainian settlement.”
Trump had stated on Thursday that until the two leaders met, nothing would be decided.
As negotiations began, Zelensky declared, “A complete, honest, and unconditional ceasefire is our top priority.”
“To prevent the murder and establish a strong foundation for diplomacy, this must be done right away.”
He went on to say that “it will be 100 percent clear that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy” if a ceasefire could not be reached.
And in that case, “the world must respond. There needs to be a strong reaction, including sanctions on Russia’s energy sector and banks,” Zelensky said.
– Rubio in Istanbul –
Ahead of the talks, Ukrainian officials in Istanbul held meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg and the national security advisors of Britain, France and Germany.
Rubio urged a “peaceful” end to the war and said “the killing needs to stop”, according to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
A Ukrainian diplomatic source in Istanbul told AFP the delegation also wanted to discuss a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting.
But while the talks were ongoing, the source said Russia was advancing hardline territorial demands.
“Russian representatives are putting forward unacceptable demands… such as for Ukraine to withdraw forces from large parts of Ukrainian territory it controls for a ceasefire to begin,” the source said.
They accused Moscow of seeking to “throw non-starters” so the talks end “without any results”.
Leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO chief Mark Rutte, slammed Putin for skipping the Istanbul talks.
Putin sent Vladimir Medinsky — a former cultural minister who is not seen as a key Kremlin decision-maker.
Rubio acknowledged that the Russian representation was “not at the levels we had hoped it would be” and downplayed expectations for a breakthrough.
Russia’s Medinsky said Moscow saw Friday’s negotiations as a “continuation” of failed 2022 talks, which he led — a sign that Moscow’s hardline demands have not changed.
However, he rebutted Zelensky’s critique, stating that Putin has given the Russian delegation a mission to “find possible solutions.”
Russia has stated time and time again that it will not talk about ceding any land that its troops control.
Rustem Umerov, the defense minister of Kyiv, is a native of Crimea, the peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
In the hours before the negotiations, Russia persisted in its attacks, with Kyiv reporting that at least two persons had been killed.
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