Ukraine rallied support from its Western allies yesterday after Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire at their first direct talks in more than three years, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as “non-starters”.
Under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, delegates from the warring countries met for the first time since March 2022, the month after Russia invaded its neighbour.
The talks in an Istanbul palace lasted well under two hours.
Russia expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said it was ready to continue contacts. Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each in what would be the biggest such exchange yet.
But Kyiv, which wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Trump for a 30-day ceasefire, immediately began rallying its allies for tougher action.
As soon as the talks ended, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a phone call with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland, his spokesperson said.
Zelenskiy said robust sanctions should follow if Russia rejected a ceasefire.
Russia’s demands were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed,” a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Moscow had issued ultimatums for Ukraine to withdraw from parts of its own territory in order to obtain a ceasefire “and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the Russian position was “clearly unacceptable” and that European leaders, Ukraine and the US were “closely aligning” their responses.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow.
Negotiations
Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that his team had “taken note” of the Ukrainians’ request for direct talks between Zelenskiy and President Vladimir Putin. Putin, after proposing the direct talks, had spurned a challenge from the Ukrainian leader to meet him personally in Istanbul.
“We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail. After such a vision has been presented, we believe it would be appropriate, as also agreed, to continue our negotiations,” Medinsky said.
The sides mostly repeated their known positions. The Ukrainians wanted an immediate ceasefire and talks to ensue, while the Russians demanded more peace talks before agreeing on a ceasefire.
“If you want serious negotiations, you need to have guns silent,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters.
Expectations for a major breakthrough, already low, were dented further on Thursday when Trump, winding up a Middle East tour, said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Putin.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s top priority was “a full, unconditional and honest ceasefire... to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy”.
Russia says it wants to end the war by diplomatic means and is ready to discuss a ceasefire. But it has raised a list of questions and concerns, saying Ukraine could use a pause to rest its forces, mobilise extra troops and acquire more Western weapons.
Ukraine and its allies accuse Putin of stalling, and say he is not serious about wanting peace.
The negotiating teams sat opposite one another on either side of a U-shaped table, with the Russians dressed in suits while half of the Ukrainians wore military fatigues.
A Turkish official said afterwards the atmosphere had been calm during the talks. No concrete timetable or location had been agreed for the next round of talks, the official said, with both sides needing to debrief their leaders first.
The Ukrainian source said the Ukrainians spoke in their own language, through an interpreter, although Russian is widely spoken and understood in Ukraine.
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