Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years on Friday, gathering talks from Turkish brokers in Istanbul, but officials and observers hoped they had little immediate progress when they stopped the war for more than three years.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said the Ukrainian delegation, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, sat down with a low-level Russian team led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
Officials in attendance sat at the U-shaped table, with Russians and Ukrainians facing each other.
A senior Ukrainian official approached the negotiations said the Kiev delegation was ready to “get a lot today” and had a real task to solve the key problems. The official spoke with the Associated Press on anonymity because he was not authorized to issue an official statement, and he said the result depends on whether Moscow was just as serious.
Both countries have tried to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to express frustration at slow progress and threaten to punish stepping on foot, eager to resolve conflicts amid widespread diplomatic maneuvers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposal to face to face, the latest effort to end the battle started a tough start on Thursday. Delegations from both countries also flew to different Turkish cities and formed teams with significant diplomatic differences to conduct possible negotiations.
Despite low expectations for a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting, the apparent lack of appeal in peace efforts has frustrated Türkiye's hopes of bold measures to reach reconciliation.
Both sides are still a large part
The two sides are far apart under the conditions of ending the war.
On Friday, Trump said the meeting with Putin would “once we can build it.”
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“I think it's time for us to do that,” Trump told Abu Dhabi reporters.
Comments by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday seemed to indicate that momentum of the summit was being established as Peskov told reporters “of course it needs to.” But he pointed out that it takes time to prepare for the summit.
Ukraine has accepted a full, 30-day ceasefire proposal from the United States and Europe, but Putin effectively rejected it by imposing far-reaching conditions.
Meanwhile, Russian troops are preparing for a new military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts said.
The United Nations said the Russian invasion had killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians and said the razed towns and villages were razed. Officials and analysts say thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died and there may be more Russian troops.
On the battlefield, a Ukrainian soldier said he did not want the negotiations to end the war quickly.
“I don't think they will agree on anything specific, because summer is the best time for war,” he said. He only used the call sign “Corsair” to comply with the rules of the Ukrainian army. “The enemy is trying to keep escalating the situation.”
But he told the Associated Press that many of his compatriots “believe that by the end of the year, there will be peace, although unstable, peaceful.”
Oleh Syniehubov, head of the military administration of the Kharkif region, said the drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk on Friday morning. All victims work for municipal utilities.
After Putin failed to take on the challenge of Zelenskyy sitting with him in the Turkish capital on Thursday, the Ukrainian president accused Moscow of not making serious efforts to end the war by sending a low-level negotiating team that he described as “theater props.”
Even so, Zelenskyy said he is sending a team led by the defense minister to a meeting in Istanbul on Friday. This will show that Trump shows that despite Russia's footsteps, Ukraine is determined to work on its peaceful efforts.
The Kremlin said the Russian delegation also included three other senior officials. Putin also appointed four low-level officials as “experts” in the negotiations.
A series of diplomatic activities in Istanbul
Before the talks, a series of diplomatic activities occurred in Istanbul.
Senior Ukrainian officials held a morning meeting with national security advisers in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to coordinate positions.
The official said the U.S. team was led by Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, who retired Trump's special for Trump to Ukraine and Russia, while Umerov and Andriy Yermak, head of the president's office, represented Ukraine.
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said a three-way meeting between Türkiye, the United States and Ukraine was also held. The United States includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kellogg.
Rubio said on Thursday he did not foresee major developments in Istanbul.
“We don't have high expectations for what will happen tomorrow. Frankly, at this point, I think it's obvious that the only way we can make a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters in Antalya, Turkey on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy flew to Albania to attend a meeting of 47 European leaders to discuss security, defense and democratic standards in the context of war.
– Related news writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
