Russia and Ukraine fail to agree to ceasefire in first direct talks

Still no endgame in sight after the first direct talks in Turkey between delegations from Ukraine and Russia.

Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire to end the more three-year-long war with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as “non-starters”.

The talks in Istanbul last under two hours. Russia expressed satisfaction with the meeting saying it was ready to continue contacts.

“We agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and write it down in detail,” said the head of Russia’s low-level delegation, Vladimir Medinsky.

“Once these visions are presented, we believe it is appropriate, and this has also been agreed, to continue our negotiations.”

But Kyiv was not as happy.

As soon as the talks ended, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had phone calls with its Western allies rallying support for tougher actions.

There was, however, some movement on prisoners of war.

“We  have agreed to exchange 1,000 persons (each). And we’re working on other modalities and our colleagues are in contact and we’ll exchange all the documents,” said defence minister, Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation.

Reiterating that Ukraine wants peace, he said the next step should be a meeting between Zelensky and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Both sides are under pressure from United States President Donald Trump to end the conflict.

Zelenskyy says Kyiv’s top priority is a “full and unconditional ceasefire” to create a solid basis for diplomacy, while Russia wants to end its war by diplomatic means.