Third round of Russia-Ukraine talks conclude in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

The third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine concluded on Wednesday evening in Istanbul, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urging both sides to end the "bloody war" as soon as possible.

"Our aim is to end this bloody war, which has a very high cost, as soon as possible ... The ultimate goal is a ceasefire that will pave the way to peace," Fidan said as he opened the negotiations.

He thanked Russian and Ukrainian leaders Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky for demonstrating "the will to hold these talks," as well U.S. President Donald Trump for his calls for an end to the war.

Speaking at a news conference following the talks, which lasted less than an hour, Rustem Umerov, the head of Kiev's delegation, said that the delegations discussed the priorities of both sides during their meeting.

"The priority number one is to organise the meeting of the leaders, of presidents, with the participation of Trump and [Turkish President] Erdoğan," Umerov said, adding Kiev had proposed to hold the talks by the end of August.

According to him, Kiev also expects "further progress" on exchanges of prisoners between countries.

Umerov also thanked Türkiye for its mediator role in contacts with Russia, stating, "We thank Türkiye for its facilitating role, it is an important platform for dialogue and peace."

A member of the Ukrainian delegation, First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, said the Russian side accepted requests for release of people held captive for over three years while Heorhii Tykhyi, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Ukraine has zero preconditions for declaring a ceasefire.

Following the meeting, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said Russia suggested forming three online working groups, each of them addressing different subject areas — political, humanitarian, and military.

He also said the sides agreed to swap 1,200 troops being held prisoner, and Moscow proposed exchanging not only military personnel but also civilians — some 30 people that Ukraine captured in Russia's Kursk region last year.

Medinsky also said Russia so far has returned around 7,000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers and offered to transfer 3,000 more, and receive any number of its own deceased soldiers from Ukraine.

Moscow also advocated declaring 24- to 48-hour ceasefires to evacuate wounded soldiers and reclaim the bodies of dead soldiers, he added.

The Ukrainian delegation held on Wednesday talks with Erdoğan in Ankara, ahead of the third round of the peace negotiations in Istanbul.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, said on X that the delegation conveyed greetings from Zelensky and thanked Türkiye for its enduring support.

“We expressed our gratitude to Türkiye and Erdoğan for their consistent political and security support for Ukraine throughout the full-scale war with Russia," he said. "We also appreciate Türkiye’s readiness to provide a platform for negotiations and to support diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”

The discussions covered “security situation, regional stability challenges, and the prospects for further defense cooperation,” according to Yermak, who described the meetings as “constructive.”

The Ukrainian officials also met Fidan and Akif Çağatay Kılıç, chief adviser to Erdoğan.

“We are grateful to Türkiye and the Turkish people for their steadfast position ... we appreciate the opportunity to engage,” Yermak said.

He said they also talked about the importance of organizing a top-level meeting involving presidents Zelensky, Erdoğan, Trump and Putin, as a step toward initiating meaningful peace talks to help bring the war to an end.

“The dynamics of the peace process matter deeply to us — because this is about real people, real children who were abducted by Russia and must all be brought back home,” he added.

Previous negotiations

Istanbul has so far hosted two rounds of renewed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which have taken place on May 16 and June 2.

During the first round of talks held in Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace, both sides notably reached what was then the largest prisoner swap of the over three-year-long conflict in Ukraine, which involved 1,000 prisoners from each side.

Three phases of prisoner swaps were subsequently conducted by the two sides to fulfill the deal reached in Istanbul on exchanging 1,000 prisoners.

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations also agreed that both Moscow and Kiev will present each other with their vision of a future peace deal through peace memoranda.

Two weeks later, another round of peace talks between the two countries, held this time in Istanbul’s Çırağan Palace, resulted in both sides agreeing to exchange additional prisoners of war — prioritizing the youngest and most severely wounded — and to return the bodies of 6,000 soldiers from each side.

Moscow and Kiev also conducted an exchange of memoranda, as agreed on during the first round of negotiations.

According to its memorandum for the settlement of the conflict, Moscow has demanded a ban on Kiev joining military alliances and withdrawal of Ukraine's troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions that it annexed after a referendum in September 2022, among others.

Ukraine has described the terms as an "ultimatum" and called for a ceasefire as a prerequisite for meaningful talks in its own memorandum handed to the Russian side.

Following the second round of talks, Erdoğan offered to hold a summit involving the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, as well as the U.S., turning Istanbul into a "center of peace."