Russia-Ukraine Talks Barely Last An Hour, Progress On PoWs, Dead Soldiers

The second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on Monday, hours after a massive drone strike in Russia's Siberia - a first since the beginning of the war. Russia has faced considerable damage to equipment and military platforms as a result of Kyiv's offensive. Moscow too has vastly escalated its strikes across Ukraine.

Tensions were high and there was an over-two-hour unexplained delay in the start of the talks, which were originally slated for 10 am GMT, but started at half-past-noon. Even though both sides eventually showed up for the bilateral meeting, with the latest attacks, there was no sign that either side is even remotely close to an understanding or an agreement.

At the meeting, which barely lasted an hour, both sides however, agreed on Monday to exchange more prisoners of war and also return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers - 6,000 each. Turkey, the nation facilitating the talks, seemed hopeful after Monday's talks. President Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kyiv, which scaled up its attack less than 24 hours ago, had struck Russian bombers, some of which were nuclear-capable, at a remote airbase.

Moscow too, has scaled up the intensity of its missile and drone strikes in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the two sides are sitting face-to-face in Istanbul discussing their respective ideas of what a full ceasefire in this years-long war should look like.

Even as both sides look at a long-term solution and path to peace, there are major disagreements between them. There are red lines which both Moscow and Kyiv have laid out, saying there is "no compromise" on these conditions, which neither side agrees to about the other.

Turkey, where the talks are being held, has put out a statement appealing to Washington that the US must play its part. "The United States' backing for Russia-Ukraine peace talks is extremely important," Turkey said in its statement. However, President Donald Trump has threatened that the US could abandon its role as a mediator if there is no progress made by the two warring sides.

At the start of today's meeting, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Moscow's delegation, said that Russia had received Ukraine's draft memorandum for a peace accord ahead of the talks. Russia had said it would present its own draft peace accord at the talks along with unspecified ceasefire proposals. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is heading the Ukrainian delegation.

There was some positive outcome from the first round of talks, also held in Istanbul on May 16, where both sides had agreed to the largest prisoner swap of the war - each side freeing 1,000 prisoners. However, there were no signs of a ceasefire or lasting peace.

(Inputs from Reuters)