Ukraine and Russia agreed to another large-scale prisoner swap but little else during a second round of direct peace talks that lasted just over an hour as air attacks by both sides continue in Europe's largest and deadliest conflict since World War II.
"The meeting is over. It didn't end negatively," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said following the talks on June 2 at Ciragan Palace by the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Expectations, low to begin with, were tempered further after Ukraine said a day earlier that it had wiped out dozens of long-range Russian bombers with a wave of drones launched remotely after being smuggled into Russia.
Both delegations presented their drafts of so-called memoranda -- documents on the principles of peace negotiations and possible conditions for a cease-fire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in Vilnius, said the delegations "exchanged documents through the Turkish side, and we are preparing a new release of prisoners of the war."
Ukraine's delegation leader, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said the sides agreed to "exchange all-for-all seriously wounded and seriously sick prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers who are from 18 to 25 years old -- all-for-all."
Umerov's Russian counterpart, Vladimir Medinsky, said the exchange would involve "at least 1,000" on each side, a figure that exceeds the 1,000-for-1,000 POW exchange carried out after the first round of talks last month.
Prior to the meeting, experts said the two sides still appeared to be far apart, putting the odds of a breakthrough on a cease-fire at the meeting at slim to none.
"A depressingly necessary reminder: peace talks tend to be slow. Even if (unlikely though it is) something is going to come from the Istanbul talks, there will be no sudden and magical 'breakthroughs,'" London-based analyst Mark Galeotti wrote on social media.
The US State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on June 1 to discuss the talks.
It said the call was made at Russia’s request and that Rubio had reiterated President Donald Trump’s call for continued direct talks to "achieve a lasting peace."
Heading into the talks, Ukraine appeared to bolster its negotiating position after its forces struck dozens of long-range bomber aircraft across Russia with drones that were smuggled in wooden shipping crates carried on truck beds into the country and then launched from nearby locations.
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that as many as 40 bombers may have been hit in the June 1 attack, described as an “absolutely brilliant outcome” by Zelenskyy, who added that the operation had taken more than a year and half to prepare.
Ukraine agreed in April to a US proposal for a 30-day cease-fire, but Russia has balked at the plan, and many of Ukraine's allies have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the process so he can take advantage of the current situation on the battlefield, where Russia has been gaining ground in territories it claims to rule.
"The key to lasting peace is clear, the aggressor must not receive any reward for war,"Zelesnkyy said in Vilnius on June 2 at a meeting that included officials from several NATO countries.
Much of the destruction has been centered around civilian infrastructure, which Russia claims it doesn't target despite mounting evidence that appears to show the opposite.
Trump’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg, said in an ABC interview that US, German, French, and British officials would be in Istanbul or the June 2 meeting.
Russia has said it would use the meeting to present a "memorandum" outlining its terms for a peace settlement. Kyiv said it was ready to take part but wanted to see Russia's proposals for ending the war first.
Suspilne, Ukraine's public broadcaster, reported what it said were the details of the memorandum that Kyiv planned to present in Istanbul.
Key points were said to include the call for a complete cease-fire and “confidence-building measures” to address humanitarian issues.
Also, it said Ukraine “does not undertake to be neutral. A state can choose to be part of the Euro-Atlantic community and move towards EU membership. Kyiv's membership in NATO depends on consensus within the Alliance.”
Moscow has pressed for Ukraine’s neutrality and a pledge by Kyiv that it will not attempt to join the Western military alliance -- points Zelenskyy has long rejected.
The memorandum spoke of potential sanctions relief against Russia, but only under specific conditions.
“Some restrictions can be lifted from Russia, but in stages and only gradually, with a mechanism for renewing sanctions if necessary. Frozen Russian sovereign assets are used to rebuild Ukraine or remain frozen until reparations are paid,” it said.
