On Friday, the first direct negotiations between representatives of Russia and Ukraine since the start of the war took place in Istanbul — and lasted less than two hours. The brevity of the meeting speaks volumes: the sides remain diametrically opposed, and there is no real prospect of progress.
As The Washington Post reports, the Turkish Foreign Ministry gave only a formal statement that the meeting had ended, without providing details. However, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, the Russian side once again put forward demands that Ukraine found unacceptable — in particular, the withdrawal from regions that Moscow only partially controls. This includes Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, regions Russia has illegally annexed but failed to fully occupy.
For Kyiv, giving up more territory is a hard no. Similar demands, according to a diplomat, had already surfaced in private conversations with Trump administration officials — notably his envoy Steve Witkoff and staff from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office.
The Kremlin Bets on Simulated Negotiations
The talks, which had sparked cautious hopes, lost any weight once it became clear that Vladimir Putin would not attend in person. Instead, Russia sent a low-level delegation made up mostly of deputy ministers and technical experts. This immediately raised doubts about the seriousness of the Kremlin’s intentions.
The American delegation — including special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg and Senator Marco Rubio — arrived in Istanbul, along with the Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. The main session of the talks — between the Ukrainians and Russians — was held at Dolmabahçe Palace in a cold, almost performative atmosphere. Half of the Ukrainian delegation wore military fatigues, while the Russian delegates sat across from them in business suits. A Turkish mediator group sat between them.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan opened the meeting with a diplomatic appeal:
“There are two paths ahead of us: one leads to peace, the other to further destruction and death. The sides must decide on their own, with their own will, which path to take.”
Even Fidan, however, seemed to admit the talks were unlikely to produce results.
Senator Rubio, who flew in from a NATO ministerial meeting in Antalya, expressed skepticism ahead of the talks. Given the low rank of the Russian officials present, he said, “a breakthrough is unlikely.”
Zelensky: “Russia Sends Empty Heads”
As for Donald Trump, his position once again reflected ambiguity. While he publicly endorsed the talks, he made a dismissive comment on Air Force One the night before:
“Look, nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together.”
On Friday, he confirmed that he would not be heading to Istanbul and was wrapping up his Middle East tour. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Trump said he regretted Putin’s absence from the negotiations and expressed his wish to meet the Russian leader “as soon as we can set it up.” He made no mention of the ceasefire call he had made jointly with Europe just a week earlier.
Tellingly, once it became clear that Putin wouldn’t attend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left Turkey for Albania to meet with European leaders still pushing for new sanctions against Russia. He harshly criticized the Russian delegation:
“None of them are people who actually make decisions in Russia. Still, I sent our team to Istanbul. Our number one priority is a full, unconditional, and honest ceasefire. If the Russian representatives can’t even agree to that, then it is 100 percent clear that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy.”
Zelensky noted that the Russian delegation was nearly identical to the one that led the failed negotiations in 2022:
“Russia hasn’t changed its approach. They’re turning the Istanbul meeting into the same empty imitation as in 2022. It’s not us or the West who are disrupting negotiations — it’s Russia, sending empty heads to the talks.”
Meanwhile, the European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed on new sanctions, particularly targeting Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to circumvent embargoes on oil products.
Neither Putin nor the Kremlin officially announced he would skip the talks, but they delayed disclosing the composition of the delegation until Wednesday. It was then revealed that it would be led by Vladimir Medinsky — a former culture minister known for his conservative views and for heading the failed 2022 talks with Ukraine. Medinsky has published multiple essays denying the legitimacy of Ukrainian nationhood and often portraying the war in Ukraine as a mission to “correct historical mistakes” — a position that aligns with Putin’s public justification of the war.
According to The Washington Post, Russian commentators responded angrily to Zelensky’s offer to meet Putin in person, calling him “a reckless manipulator.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also lashed out, calling the Ukrainian leader “a clown.”
This article was prepared based on materials published by The Washington Post. The author does not claim authorship of the original text but presents their interpretation of the content for informational purposes.
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