Russia, Ukraine Hold First Peace Talks in 3 Years Amid Low Hopes

Russia and Ukraine on Friday held their first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations that officials and observers expected to yield little immediate progress on stopping the 3-year-old war.

- Associated Press

WASHINGTON:

While the two sides were sitting at a U-shaped table for talks, they are far apart in their conditions for ending the war.

US President Donald Trump, who has pressed both Moscow and Kyiv for an end to the conflict, saying a meeting between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin would happen "as soon as we can set it up." "I think it's time for us to just do it," Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi as he wrapped up a trip to the Middle East.

In Istanbul, a Ukrainian delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov sat down opposite a low-level Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, according to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, who published a photo of the meeting.