Kyiv demands ceasefire in Istanbul meeting, Moscow calls for extended talks

Ukraine rallied support from its Western allies on Friday after Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire at their first direct talks in more than three years, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as “non-starters”.

Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, delegates from the warring countries met for the first time since March 2022.

The talks in an Istanbul palace lasted less than two hours. Russia expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said it was ready to continue contacts. Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each soon in what would be the biggest such exchange yet.

But Kyiv, which wants the West to impose tighter sanctions on Moscow unless President Vladimir Putin accepts a proposal from Trump for a 30-day ceasefire, immediately began rallying its allies for tougher action.

As soon as the talks ended, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X that he had spoken by phone with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland.

“Ukraine is ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace, and it is important that the world holds a strong stance,” Zelenskiy said. He called for “tough sanctions” if Russia rejects a full and unconditional ceasefire.

Russia – which is slowly but steadily advancing on the battlefield and is worried that Ukraine will use such a pause to regroup and rearm – has said it needs to nail down the terms of a ceasefire before signing up to one.

“We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail,” Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters after the meeting. “After such a vision has been presented, we believe it would be appropriate, as also agreed, to continue our negotiations.”