Russia and Ukraine hold direct talks... without any leaders

THE first direct peace talks in three years following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took place yesterday — but neither presidents Putin nor Zelensky were round the table.

- By Zeke Miller

Delegations gathered in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations but officials and observers expected little immediate progress to stop the war.

The Ukrainian group led by defence minister Rustem Umerov sat around a U-shaped table with a Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, according to Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi.

The talks lasted less than two hours and, according to a Ukrainian official, the Kremlin made “new and unacceptable demands”. They included insisting Kyiv withdraw its troops from large parts of its own territory, he said, in exchange for a ceasefire.

Deadlock

However, each side will return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other.