Russia-Ukraine talks end in Istanbul after less than an hour
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Third round of peace talks in Istanbul ‘end after less than an hour’
Talks between Russia and Ukraine end after just over an hour. New law will roll back the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Move is seen as a blow to the Kremlin’s attempts to exert influence in Ukraine. The new law is expected to come into force in the next few weeks.
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Russia and Ukraine have ended a third round of peace talks in Istanbul after well under an hour, according to reports.
Russian state news agency Tass and Ukraine’s Suspilne broadcaster both reported the news on Wednesday, after previous summits failed to yield results, except on swapping prisoners of war.
Tass also reported that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to exchange more prisoners, including military and civilian.
Meanwhile Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky promised to submit revised legislation to parliament in response to angry protests against restrictions on the authority of anti-corruption agencies.
Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Kyiv, opposing the new law, which rolls back the autonomy of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Mr Zelensky says the move will rid the organisations of “Russian influence”.
Marta Kos, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, said the law was a serious step back for Kyiv’s membership hopes.
Third round of Russia-Ukraine talks agrees on prisoner exchange, differs on ceasefire
Russian and Ukrainian delegations held a third round of peace talks here at the Ciragan Palace. The two sides agreed on another prisoner exchange but clashed on ceasefire terms. Ukrainian side has proposed to Russia to hold a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “by the end of August” Russian side proposed establishing three online working groups with Ukraine to address political, humanitarian, and military issues. Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners of war each, including a proposal from Moscow to swap about 30 civilians held by Ukraine in the Kursk region of the Donetsk and Lugansk Oblak regions. The talks were chaired by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Xinhua news agency reported. The previous two rounds of talks in Istanbul — held on May 16 and June 2 — led to the exchange of thousands of war prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Rustem Umerov led the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, respectively on Wednesday evening.
The closed-door talks were chaired by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Xinhua news agency reported.
Following the talks, which lasted for less than one hour, Umerov said at a press conference that Ukraine continues to insist on a full and unconditional ceasefire as the essential foundation for effective diplomacy.
“We are ready for a ceasefire now and to start substantive peace negotiations, and it is up to the other side to accept this basic step towards peace,” he added.
“We emphasise that the ceasefire must be genuine. It must include a complete cessation of strikes on civilian and critical infrastructure,” he said.
Prior to the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Moscow and Kyiv are “diametrically opposed” in their positions on how to end the conflict, noting that “much work” still needs to be done.
The Ukrainian side has proposed to Russia to hold a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “by the end of August,” where the participation of US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be “especially valuable,” he added.
During a separate press conference after the talks, Medinsky said that Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners of war each, including a proposal from Moscow to swap about 30 civilians held by Ukraine in the Kursk region.
Russia has returned the bodies of 7,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers and is ready to return 3,000 more, he said, requesting the return of any number of deceased Russian soldiers from Ukraine.
He also added that the Russian side proposed establishing three online working groups with Ukraine to address political, humanitarian, and military issues, and asked Ukraine to consider declaring short ceasefires of 24 to 48 hours along the contact line to evacuate the wounded soldiers and recover the bodies of fallen troops.
As to the Putin-Zelensky meeting Ukraine proposed, Medinsky said that such a meeting is not being considered until certain processes are completed.
Meanwhile, Zelensky wrote on social media platform X after the talks that the ninth stage of prisoner exchange took place “today,” which involved more than 1,000 people from the Ukrainian side, including those “seriously ill and severely wounded”.
“It is important that the exchanges are ongoing,” he wrote.
In his opening remarks to the talks, Fidan urged the two delegations to engage in result-oriented negotiations aimed at achieving a ceasefire and ultimately ending the war.
“Our goal is to end this bloody war, which has come at a heavy cost, as soon as possible,” Fidan said.
While the previous two rounds of talks in Istanbul — held on May 16 and June 2 — led to the exchange of thousands of war prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers, they produced little progress toward a ceasefire.
Source: IANS
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Third Round of Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks Concluded in Istanbul, More POWs Headed Home
More POWs exchanged after the third round of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says over 1,000 seriously ill Ukrainian POWs were returned on Tuesday under Istanbul-negotiated deals. More exchanges are expected as a result of the talks, with more talks expected in the coming days. The peace process may have gained new momentum after US President Donald Trump publicly threatened to impose severe new tariffs on Russia unless it agrees to end the war within 50 days. Russian delegation remains unchanged and is again headed by Vladimir Medinsky, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. The Ukrainian delegation includes top officials from military intelligence, the Foreign Ministry, and the Presidential Office – among them aid Andriy Yermak, First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, and deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skybytskyi.
The negotiations were completed in just 40 minutes during the evening, according to Russian state media. No further talks are expected during this gathering.
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Head of the Ukrainian delegation and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov (3rd R), sits with delegation members as they attend a second meeting of Ukrainian and Russian delegation direct talks, at the Ciragan Palace, in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (Photo by Adem Altan / AFP)
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“Seriously ill and severely wounded defenders are returning home,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram shortly after the talks ended.
“We can now talk about the details – over 1,000 of our people have been returned through all the stages of the recent Istanbul agreements.”
The president said little more about the results of the talks, focusing on the POW exchanges instead.
“It is important that exchanges continue and our people return home,” he said. “We will continue all efforts to ensure that all our people return from captivity.”
Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Secures Release of More POWs in Latest Exchange With Russia Zelensky says over 1,000 seriously ill Ukrainian POWs were returned on Tuesday under Istanbul-negotiated deals, with more exchanges expected as a result of the talks.
Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov met one-on-one with Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, following earlier meetings in Ankara between Ukraine’s delegation and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Russian news agency TASS reported.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also participated briefly in a preparatory discussion, RBC-Ukraine reported.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian delegation held talks in Ankara with Erdogan, one of the few international leaders maintaining direct dialogue with both Kyiv and Moscow.
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The Ukrainian delegation includes top officials from military intelligence, the Foreign Ministry, and the Presidential Office – among them aid Andriy Yermak, First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, and deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skybytskyi.
The Russian delegation remains unchanged and is again headed by Medinsky, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has identified three main priorities for the third round of negotiations:
Further prisoner exchanges of both civilians and military personnel
The return of abducted Ukrainian children
A meeting between Zelensky and Putin, and calls for an immediate, total ceasefire
While Kyiv continues to push for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – a position backed by the United States – Moscow has rejected it, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying there are “no changes” to Russia’s maximalist war aims and that a high-level Putin-Zelensky meeting must be preceded by extensive preparatory work .
Zelensky has also expressed openness to a face-to-face meeting with Putin, but the Russian leader has so far refused to attend in person, opting instead to send lower-level officials.
This third round of direct talks comes on the heels of two other meetings held earlier this year – the first formal negotiations between the two sides in more than three years.
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Despite limited progress, several prisoner-of-war (POW) exchanges have been carried out as a result of the talks.
The peace process may have gained new momentum after US President Donald Trump publicly threatened to impose severe new tariffs on Russia unless it agrees to end the war within 50 days.
That warning came on July 14, with the Trump administration now playing a more forceful role in pressuring both sides.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is made available.
Russia, Ukraine talks last less than an hour as war grinds on
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The meeting came days after US President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to make peace or face “very severe tariffs.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly acknowledged Trump’s ultimatum, and Moscow has continued to pummel Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles while its ground troops grind forward in the east.
Ukrainian soldiers prepare for combat near Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region in June. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images via CNN)
Speaking after Wednesday’s meeting, Ukraine’s former defence minister Rustem Umerov – who led Kyiv’s delegation – said he had proposed a summit by the end of August between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin and suggested the “participation of (US) President Trump and (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan will be most valuable.”
However, Russia’s delegate Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister and now a senior Putin aide, said such a meeting would be appropriate only to sign an agreement, Reuters reported.
The two sides also remained at odds over the terms of any possible ceasefire, with Umerov saying Ukraine was seeking a “full and unconditional ceasefire as a necessary basis for effective diplomacy,” while Russia called for a series of short ceasefires of between 24 and 48 hours, on the front line, to allow medical teams to pick up dead and wounded soldiers.
READ MORE: French president sues in US over claims his wife is a man
Ukrainian delegation leader Rustem Umerov speaks to the media at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. (Getty)
The two sides did appear to find some common ground on prisoner exchanges, with Medinksy telling a press conference after the meeting that an exchange of around 250 Russian and 250 Ukrainian prisoners of war was being completed along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
Medinsky said the two sides had also agreed “that in the near future an exchange of at least 1200 more prisoners of war from each side will be carried out.”
The two previous rounds of talks in Istanbul, in May and June, helped facilitate the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers, but also made little progress toward peace.
Russian delegate Vladimir Medinsky. (Getty)
In a message on Telegram on Wednesday, Zelensky said more than 1000 Ukrainians had now been returned through “all the stages of the recent Istanbul agreements.”
“Bringing all our people back is a priority for the state,” he said.
“And we will continue all efforts to ensure that all our people return from captivity.”
Expectations were low before Wednesday’s talks, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stressing that the two sides’ negotiating positions remain “diametrically opposed” and telling reports not to expect “any miraculous breakthroughs.”
Mounting casualties
Last month, Russian casualties hit a grim milestone, with the UK’s Ministry of Defence estimating that Putin’s war has likely cost Russia more than one million casualties since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
That number tracked with an assessment the same month from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, DC, which put the number of casualties at 950,000 and predicted that “Russia will likely hit the one million casualty mark in the summer of 2025.”
Despite those losses, the Russian president has shown little sign of compromising on his maximalist war aim of dismantling Ukraine’s sovereignty. In a long essay published months before the full-scale invasion, Putin falsely argued that Russia and Ukraine are one country; his comments suggesting to many that the war has been waged to make that a reality.
Ukraine holds first football tournament for war-wounded amputees View Gallery
In addition to Trump’s fresh threat of new sanctions on Russia and other countries that purchase Russian oil if peace isn’t reached in 50 days, the US also secured a deal to funnel new weapons to Kyiv through European allies. The moves were in stark contrast with previous approaches the US leader has taken with the conflict.
Trump’s reversal came after the European Union unveiled a new package of sanctions proposing to lower the price cap on Russian oil exports and introducing a full transaction ban on Russian banks and financial institutions in third countries that help Russia dodge existing sanctions.
It is unclear whether Trump’s latest decisions will sway Moscow’s approach, but his about-face could provide a much-needed boost to Ukraine’s military coffers, and signals his growing frustration with Putin.
“My conversations with him are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night,” Trump explained last week.
Before the talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his call for a direct meeting with Putin, saying only a meeting of the two leaders can end the war.
Third round of Ukraine-Russia peace talks end in less than a hour with no cease-fire after Trump threatens Putin with sanctions
Talks took place in Istanbul just over a week after President Trump threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with “very severe tariffs” “We are working on priority issues. Our priority is always people, cease-fire and meeting of leaders,” Umerov said after the talks. If such a sitdown happens, it would be the first time the leaders would speak since the start of the war on Feb. 24, 2025. “The main thing for us is to achieve our goals are clear,’ Peskov said. � “Putin has wasted some time, the President Trump’s time, and the Congress and the Administration time, on this situation, and it can be done better, the better the better.”“We’re going to have a very, very good day, and I’m looking forward to it.’”
The talks took place in Istanbul just over a week after President Trump threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with “very severe tariffs” if he doesn’t commit to a cease-fire in Ukraine within 50 days.
The anticipated talks lasted about 40 minutes, according to Russian news agency TASS.
4 Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, second from left, at the peace talks in Istanbul on July 23, 2025. Getty Images
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The two sides agreed to have a prisoner exchange of 1,200 people, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said, The Kyiv Independent reported.
“We are working on priority issues. Our priority is always people, cease-fire and meeting of leaders,” Umerov said after the talks.
The Ukrainian side also proposed a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin. If such a sitdown happens, it would be the first time the leaders would speak since the start of the war on Feb. 24, 2022.
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Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky said topics of discussion would first have to be identified for Putin to agree to a face-to-face negotiation, per The Kyiv Independent.
Medinsky said Moscow instead put forth having three online working groups to address political, military and humanitarian topics.
4 In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, responders work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa on July 22, 2025. AP
4 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky attends the parliament session in Kyiv on July 17, 2025. AP
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Zelensky has repeatedly expressed his desire to meet with Putin, but the Russian side has been tepid and has only sent lower-level officials so far.
The three negotiations thus far have successfully led to several prisoner exchanges, but have not brought about an end to the brutal war, as Moscow continues to drone strike Ukrainian cities.
The Kremlin indicated its desire to stick to its “goals” before going into the negotiations, with Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters on Sunday that Moscow is steadfast on holding up their interests.
“The main thing for us is to achieve our goals. Our goals are clear,” Peskov said.
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Peskov was likely referring to a “peace memorandum” that the Russian delegation handed to their Ukrainian counterparts during the second round of talks on June 2.
The demands included Ukraine officially recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the full Russian annexation of Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk oblasts.
Under the demands, Ukraine would have to remove its troops from the four oblasts — and then demobilize the entire country, end all aspirations of joining NATO and other military alliances, make Russian the official language of Ukraine and ban additional Western military supplies and intelligence sharing.
Meanwhile, Zelensky has stressed that Ukraine needs to have security guarantees in place to ensure Moscow doesn’t invade again. He’s also maintained that Crimea is a part of Ukraine.
4 A resident inspects a part of a damaged car at the site of the Russian drone strike, amid in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 22, 2025. REUTERS
The three rounds of talks began after increasing pressure from Trump, who has promised to bring about the end of the war.
Trump announced July 14 that the US would be sending weapons to Ukraine via NATO, which would be funding the “billions” worth of equipment. The announcement included a mounting threat toward Putin — secondary sanctions on Russia if no peace was met in 50 days.
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Putin has not publicly acknowledged Trump’s threat, while Zelensky told The Post in a July 16 interview that he would like to see Trump ramp up the pressure more.
“Putin has wasted President Trump’s time,” Zelensky charged. “I would very much like to see the United States, the Congress and the president put some pressure on this situation with sanctions and so the sooner, the faster it can be done, the better.”