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What was proposed and agreed upon during the Istanbul talks?
Here is a quick recap of the outcomes of the talks in Istanbul, which ended much sooner than was anticipated, having lasted barely an hour.
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Russia presented terms during the negotiations that highlighted its refusal to compromise on its longstanding war goals. A text of Moscow’s memorandum, published by Russian state media, said a settlement would require international recognition of Crimea and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory, as well as the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces. It also ruled out Ukrainian membership of Nato and demanded recognising Russian as the country’s official language.
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Russia’s memorandum presented two options that both appeared to be non-starters for Ukraine. Option one: for Ukraine to start a full military withdrawal from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Option two: Ukraine to cease military redeployments and accept a halt to foreign provision of military aid, satellite communications and intelligence. Kyiv would also have to lift martial law and hold presidential and parliamentary elections within 100 days.
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Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said officials would need a week to review Russia’s memorandum and decide on a response. Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said Kyiv was proposing further talks sometime between 20 and 30 June, but he added that Kyiv believes only a meeting between Volodymr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin can resolve the many issues of contention.
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Umerov said the “only real progress” from the talks was reaching an agreement on releasing prisoners. The delegations agreed to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action and to set up a commission to exchange seriously wounded troops. Zelenskiy said Ukraine presented a list of 400 children it says have been abducted to Russia, but that the Russian delegation agreed to work on returning only 10 of them.
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Russia’s lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow proposed a partial ceasefire of “two to three days” at the talks in Istanbul. He told reporters that the proposed ceasefire would apply to certain areas of the frontline to allow commanders to collect the bodies of their soldiers. Ukraine said Russia had rejected its offer of an unconditional ceasefire.
Deadly Russian attacks continue after Turkey peace talks end with no significant breakthrough
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russian shelling killed at least five people on Monday in different frontline areas of eastern Ukraine, officials said. One death was in the city of Kramatorsk, where two others were injured; and two deaths were further south in the town of Illinivka where another three were injured.
In the Kharkiv region, further to the north, prosecutors said two women were killed in a village south of Kupiansk, which has come under heavy Russian attack for months.
The attacks came as a second round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv ended yesterday in Istanbul without a significant breakthrough – only a deal to swap more prisoners of war.
An agreement had been made to return the remains of killed service personnel, but this would take careful preparation, said Ukrainian negotiators. Russia proposed a ceasefire of two or three days in some areas of the frontline to allow the Russian army to collect the many bodies it has left lying on the battlefield.
Ukrainian officials said the Russians rejected Kyiv’s call for an unconditional ceasefire of at least a month, instead handing over a proposal that would need to be studied by Kyiv. The Ukrainians suggested the talks should reconvene towards the end of June.
