A second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ended barely an hour after they began in Istanbul on Monday, Turkish officials said, a day after a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers, Reuters reports.
The talks – the second such direct contacts between the sides since 2022 – had already begun nearly two hours later than scheduled with no explanation of the delay.
“The eyes of the whole world are focused on the contacts here,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Russian and Ukrainian delegations as they faced off against each other on opposite sides of the room in the sumptuous Ciragan Palace by the Bosphorus.
He said the aim of the meeting was to evaluate the conditions for a ceasefire, to discuss a possible meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, and to look at more prisoner exchange opportunities.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in Lithuania, later said the two sides were preparing a new exchange of prisoners of war.
His chief of staff also said the Ukrainian delegation had handed over a list of deported children to Russia during Monday’s talks that Ukraine wants returned home.
