Ukraine and Russia agree to meet again
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- Darina Melnychuk
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19:08, 16 May, 2025
Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul on 16 May. Photo: Hakan Fidan in XThe Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed to meet again during talks in Istanbul on 16 May.
This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
According to him, the Ukrainian-Russian talks have become «an important day for peace in the world». The countries agreed to hold a new meeting and exchange ceasefire decisions in writing.
«They agreed to share in writing with the other side the conditions that could make a ceasefire possible. The parties also agreed in principle to meet again», wrote Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who chaired the meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegates.
He assured that Turkey will continue to make every effort to achieve sustainable peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Also, during the talks in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia discussed a ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners of war in the format of «thousand for thousand».
As a reminder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the negotiation process with Russia, saying that Ukraine was ready to take all steps to end the war and urged Vladimir Putin to give the Russian delegation decision-making powers.
Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey
On 11 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his desire to resume direct talks with Ukraine, which were suspended at the end of 2022. He also said that he planned to address Turkish President Recep Erdogan with a proposal to organise the talks.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for direct talks, calling it a «good sign». However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that a ceasefire was needed first to really start a dialogue with Russia. He later stressed that he was looking forward to direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey.
In addition, Turkish President Recep Erdogan accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to hold talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul on 15 May.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that he had no information on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend the talks. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of his own participation in the event.
Late in the evening of 14 May, the Kremlin approved the official list of Russian representatives to participate in peace talks with Ukraine, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is not among the delegates.
On the day of the talks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian delegation had arrived in Ankara in full force and was ready for real solutions to achieve a just peace. Instead, the composition of the Russian delegation is still unknown and, according to the head of state, resembles «a prop level».