Photo courtesy of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on 2 June. The parties were to present their proposals for resolving the conflict. The meeting lasted just over an hour. Following the talks, the delegations announced new agreements on POW swap. In addition, Russia handed Ukraine a two-part peace memorandum. The first part is devoted to ways of achieving genuine long-term peace. The second part of the memorandum proposes a number of ways to secure a ceasefire.
What preceded the meeting?
In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed resuming direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul. At the same time, Kiev and its European allies from the “coalition of the willing” demanded that a ceasefire be declared first, and only then should negotiations begin. However, Putin's idea was supported by US President Donald Trump. As a result, Istanbul hosted the meeting.
Its results can be called positive. In particular, the parties reached an agreement on the 1,000 for 1,000 POW swap. The parties also agreed to present their vision of a possible ceasefire, after which the delegations are expected to hold a new meeting.
After the meeting, head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky stated that it was important during the negotiations to remind Ukraine of the agreements reached in Gomel at the end of February 2022. “The key issue was that, since we view the negotiations as a continuation of the Istanbul process, it was very important to remind them of what we agreed upon in Gomel at the end of February and how it could have ended if Ukraine had agreed to peace at the end of February. They did not agree, they dragged their feet, and after that, the next stage of the agreements was in Istanbul,” he said in an interview with Russia-1 TV channel.
However, Ukraine, at the instigation of the European war party, continues to “drag its feet” even now. The previous meeting on 16 May was in danger of being canceled due to Vladimir Zelensky's demand that Putin be personally present at the negotiations. Moscow stated that a summit meeting presupposes the existence of certain agreements and that there is no point in holding it at this stage. Then Kiev delayed the decision to hold talks on 2 June. Ukraine demanded that Moscow publish the text of the Russian memorandum before the meeting began. At the same time, Western media wrote that in both cases, the Istanbul talks took place thanks to pressure on Kiev from the United States.
Ahead of the second round of talks, Ukraine launched a series of major attacks on targets in Russia. The circumstances surrounding the destruction of bridges in Kursk Oblast and Bryansk Oblast, which took place this weekend, are being investigated. On 1 June, the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out an attack using FPV drones on airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions.
How did the talks go?
Yet, despite the escalation, representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine sat at the negotiating table on 2 June. Attending the meeting were also representatives of Türkiye. Before the start of the talks, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan expressed hope for “concrete progress in the shortest possible time.”
“I would like to thank you all once again for the results-oriented and constructive approach you demonstrated at the first meeting on 16 May,” TASS quoted Hakan Fidan as saying. “The sides took very important steps, with an exchange of thousands of people completed in a short time. As promised, both sides defined their positions on a ceasefire and the next steps.”
According to Hakan Fidan, the goal of today’s meeting was to continue assessing the conditions and prospects for a ceasefire. “At the same time, we intend to move forward on the issue of exchanging prisoners of war, including out of humanitarian considerations," the diplomat said during an opening speech before the start of the talks.
The Russian delegation attended the meeting with the same composition as last time. The team of negotiators was led by Vladimir Medinsky, assistant to the president of the Russian Federation.
The Ukrainian delegation included Alexander Bevz, Adviser to the head of Zelensky's office, Alexander Poklad, Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, and also a number of military and diplomatic officials. The delegation was led by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
In total, the negotiations lasted for about an hour. After the meeting, the Russian delegation made a statement to the press.
What did the Russian delegation say?
The head of the Russian negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky, said that a draft peace memorandum had been handed over to the Ukrainian party. “We handed over our memorandum to the Ukrainian side, which consists of two parts. The first part is about how to achieve long-term peace. The second part is about the steps to take to make a full ceasefire possible... The memorandum is quite detailed and has been thoroughly worked out on our part. Therefore, the Ukrainian side decided to study it,” TASS quoted the head of the Russian delegation as saying.
Vladimir Medinsky also said that Russia will unilaterally transfer the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv next week. In addition, Russia and Ukraine have agreed on the largest POW swap to date. “We have agreed on the largest exchange to date, based on the following formula. First, all seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners will be exchanged on an ‘all for all’ basis,” Vladimir Medinsky said, calling the decision a humanitarian gesture on the part of Russia. “Second, young soldiers under the age of 25 will be exchanged on the same ‘all for all’ basis,” the head of the Russian delegation said.
He emphasized that the total exchange will be at least 1,000 people from each side. “At least 1,000. Perhaps more. These figures are currently being finalized,” Vladimir Medinsky clarified.
In order to exchange seriously wounded soldiers without political decisions, Moscow and Kiev will set up a medical commission.
Vladimir Medinsky also stated that Russia had proposed a “specific ceasefire” to Ukraine for two to three days in certain areas of the front line. The Ukrainian military promised to consider this proposal in the near future.
Separately, the head of the Russian delegation touched on the topic of Ukrainian children who were evacuated to Russia. As is well known, Kiev is demanding that Moscow return the children. In this regard, Vladimir Medinsky said that Ukraine is using the topic of missing children to stage a show in the news aimed at compassionate Europeans.
According to him, Russia has recently returned 101 children, while Ukraine has returned about 20. The Russian Federation will consider every single case on the Ukrainian list of children who have lost contact with their parents.
Vladimir Medinsky also showed a list of 339 names of missing children provided by Ukraine. He emphasized that there are no children kidnapped by Russia. There are only children rescued by Russian soldiers.
What are Ukrainians saying?
Ukraine and Russia exchanged documents on the conflict settlement during negotiations in Istanbul and are preparing for a new POW swap, Vladimir Zelensky said after the meeting.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, also confirmed the agreement to conduct new prisoner exchanges, according to the Strana news website. He stated that the parties would focus on the return of seriously ill prisoners of war and persons under the age of 25, as well as the transfer of the bodies of those killed.
According to Rustem Umerov, Russia did not agree to an unconditional ceasefire or a meeting between the leaders of the two countries during the negotiations in Istanbul.
The defense minister also said that the Ukrainian delegation proposed to Russia to hold another meeting between 20 and 30 June. Until then, Kyiv will study the Russian peace memorandum and decide on further steps.
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