Russia, Ukraine agree prisoner swap as talks end in less than two hours | Russia-Ukraine war News

Russian and Ukrainian officials met for less than two hours in Turkiye for their first direct talks in more than three years, aimed at ending the war.

The delegations met on Friday at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace in Turkiye, where the two sides failed to agree on a ceasefire despite pressure from United States President Donald Trump to end the war.

But before they adjourned, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations, in what would be their biggest such swap since the war began.

Both sides also discussed a ceasefire and a meeting between their heads of state, according to chief Ukrainian delegate Rustem Umerov.

Umerov said Kyiv believed the next step should be a meeting of the nations’ two leaders.

Umerov told reporters that the first priority in the talks on Friday in Istanbul was to secure the release of prisoners of war, and the second, to secure a ceasefire, adding that the next step should be leader level talks.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s delegation, confirmed that both sides agreed to provide each other with detailed ceasefire proposals and a meeting between their heads of state.

A Ukrainian source told the Reuters news agency, on condition of anonymity, that Russia’s ultimatums to end the war included a demand for Kyiv to withdraw from parts of its territory to obtain a ceasefire, “and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions”.

Russia’s demands were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed”, the source said.

Medinsky said Moscow was satisfied with the Istanbul talks’ results and was ready to continue talking to Kyiv.

‘Two paths’ ahead

At the palace, the two delegations sat in front of each other, the Russian officials dressed in suits and half the Ukrainians wearing camouflage military uniforms.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who chaired the meeting, told the delegations there were “two paths” ahead of them.

“One road will take us on a process that will lead to peace, while the other will lead to more destruction and death. The sides will decide on their own, with their own will, which path they choose,” Fidan said.

Russia has said it sees the talks as a continuation of the negotiations that took place in the early weeks of the war in 2022, which included demands on Ukraine to cut the size of its military.

Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said the prisoner exchange, one of the largest since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, comes as both sides are “under pressure” from Trump to end the war.

“This could be a way of indicating that there is something worth talking about at these talks,” Smith said. “We know already though, both sides have very different views on how [a deal] should come about – the Ukrainians want an immediate 30-day ceasefire. The Russians want longer-term talks about Ukraine’s status as a neutral country.”

‘Full, unconditional and honest ceasefire’

As the talks were under way, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s top priority was “a full, unconditional and honest ceasefire… to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy”.

Zelenskyy, who was attending a European summit in Albania, said if Russia refused, new sanctions against its energy sector and banks should be imposed.

While Russia has previously said it wants to end the war diplomatically and is ready to discuss a ceasefire, the prospects for a breakthrough in Istanbul were dim after Russia said President Vladimir Putin would not attend.

Expectations lowered further after Trump said there would be no movement towards a ceasefire without a meeting between himself and Putin.