That today’s (2) peace negotiations in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine have flopped is hardly surprising.
On the one hand, Russian Federation forces have conquered around 20 settlements in a single week, and their offensive on the Northern Sumy and Kharkov regions have the real potential of breaking down the undermanned and underequipped Ukrainian defenses.
Mood at the Istanbul talks — Ukraine’s Defense Minister Umerov cracks a smile, while Putin’s aide Medinsky remains serious pic.twitter.com/9TDU3xBzQ3
— RT (@RT_com) June 2, 2025
But on the other hand, Ukraine arrived for the talks boosted by the success of yesterday’s drone attack on Russian airfields – while the scope of the attack is being heavily exaggerated in the MSM, there’s no denying that this was a major PR victory for Kiev.
Watch: opening speech by Turkish FM Fidan
‘The whole world is actually watching your contacts here. We hope to have concrete results to bring us one step closer to peace’ — Turkish FM Fidan
He thanked the delegates, expressing hope for fruitful outcomes of the talks https://t.co/sEy43NQQUQ pic.twitter.com/NUEjB4IlVa
— RT (@RT_com) June 2, 2025
With all that, the incredibly difficult negotiations became simply impossible.
The second round of peace talks ended about an hour after they began, according to Turkish officials said.
Reuters reported:
“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 mood in Russia was angry as the talks kicked off, with influential war bloggers calling on Moscow to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Kyiv after Ukraine on Sunday launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere.”
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov reads out conditions from a piece of paper during a chaotic presser
From what we gathered, his main focus was on prisoner exchanges https://t.co/C7UIuZkTVR pic.twitter.com/e4eO2teMo1
— RT (@RT_com) June 2, 2025
Surprisingly, the Reuters report does not immediately give credence to the grandiose Ukrainian assessment of the damage done to Russia’s airplanes. Instead, it says that ‘publicly available satellite imagery’ suggests that Moscow has suffered ‘some serious equipment losses’.
“’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.”
Russian envoy Medinsky on talks results:
— Russia to return 6,000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers so they can have a decent burial
— prisoner exchange is being coordinated, at least 1000 POWs per side
— permanent commission to streamline future exchanges pic.twitter.com/06yCGtgFiH— RT (@RT_com) June 2, 2025
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