First Direct Ukraine-Russia Talks in Years Didn't Last Long

Ukrainian and Russian officials met for their first direct negotiations in more than three years on Friday, but they didn't last long. The Telegraph reports that the talks in Istanbul lasted just 90 minutes. A Ukrainian diplomatic source tells Reuters that the Russian side's demands were "detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed." The source says the "non-starters and non-constructive conditions" included a demand for Ukraine to withdraw from some of its own territory as a condition for a ceasefire.

The two sides did not shake hands before the talks—and they didn't use the same language. The Telegraph reports that while the Ukrainian negotiators likely all speak Russian, they used their own language during the talks, addressing the Russian side through an interpreter. The two sides started the talks from different positions, with Ukraine calling for an immediate ceasefire and Russia calling to address the "root causes" of the conflict, the BBC reports. After the talks, both sides said a swap of 1,000 prisoners had been agreed. Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said a Ukrainian request for direct talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky had been "noted."

These were the first direct talks between the sides since the month after Russia invaded its neighbor, and expectations were not high. Putin skipped the talks and sent a delegation of mid-level officials instead. President Trump later said "nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together." Zelensky, whose defense chief led the Ukrainian side, was in Albania for a summit with the leaders of 47 European countries and organizations, the AP reports. He said that if the Russian side failed to agree to a ceasefire Friday, "it will be 100% clear that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy." (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)