Ukrainian officials and Russian state media reported the second round of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since March 2022 yielded pledges to return the bodies of dead soldiers to the other side, in addition to a large swap of prisoners of war (POWs).
More than a dozen people on each side attended the talks at Istanbul's Ciragan Palace, with the Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and the Russian team led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But the gathering broke up in just more than an hour, with both sides still deeply divided on how to bring about an end to the war, which has seen the Kremlin gain control of about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine is insisting on a "full and unconditional ceasefire" for at least 30 days on land, in air and at sea to "end the killings now," Umerov told reporters after the meeting.
He noted that Ukraine had given Russia a truce proposal a few days ago, but Moscow had not reciprocated and instead presented its plan at Monday's talks. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of not wanting a quick end to the war so it can make further advances on the battlefield.
Kyiv is demanding war reparations, no restrictions on its military forces after any peace deal, and that the international community not recognize Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine it currently claims or occupies.
Russia, meanwhile, said it wants a long-term settlement versus a pause in attacks, rejecting an unconditional ceasefire that doesn't address its maximalist demands such as that the Ukrainian military withdraw from its four partly occupied regions in the southeast (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia); Kyiv not be allowed in any military alliances; limits on the size of the its army; and lifted international sanctions.
One positive takeaway from the negotiations — Russian and Ukrainian officials said they had agreed to exchange more POWs and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers, or 6,000 for each side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said Ukraine could return up to 1,200 POWs, with an expected 1,000-for-1,000 format that could be increased.
The talks come after Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Russian air bases Sunday that damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes, including nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet, according to Kyiv.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
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