ISTANBUL: The first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years lasted well under two hours, with no apparent sign of progress so far in narrowing the gap between the sides, and a Ukrainian source called Moscow’s demands “non-starters”.
Delegations from the warring sides met at a palace in Turkey on Friday, their first face-to-face meeting since March 2022, the month after Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
The chasm between the two sides was quickly apparent, according to the Ukrainian source who told Reuters that Russia's demands were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed”.
They included ultimatums for Ukraine to withdraw from parts of its own territory in order to obtain a ceasefire “and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions,“ the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
There was no immediate word from the Russian side.
Expectations for a major breakthrough, already low, were dented further on Thursday when U.S. President Donald Trump, winding up a Middle East tour, said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s top priority was “a full, unconditional and honest ceasefire... to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy”. He said that if Russia refused, it should be hit with strong new sanctions against its energy sector and banks.
Russia says it wants to end the war by diplomatic means and is ready to discuss a ceasefire. But it has raised a list of questions and concerns, saying Ukraine could use a pause to rest its forces, mobilise extra troops and acquire more western weapons.
Ukraine and its allies accuse Putin of stalling, and say he is not serious about wanting peace.
TWO PATHS
Both sides are under pressure from Trump to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. There was no immediate announcement on whether talks might resume, or when.
The delegates were seated opposite each other, with the Russians in suits and half of the Ukrainians wearing camouflage military fatigues.
“There are two paths ahead of us: one road will take us on a process that will lead to peace, while the other will lead to more destruction and death. The sides will decide on their own, with their own will, which path they choose,“ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told them at the start of the meeting.
The Ukrainian source said the Ukrainians spoke in their own language, although Russian is widely spoken and understood in Ukraine.
PUTIN STAYS AWAY
It was Putin who proposed the direct talks in Turkey, but he spurned a challenge from Zelenskiy to meet him there in person, instead sending a team of mid-level officials. Ukraine responded by naming negotiators of similar rank.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on the eve of the meeting that no major breakthrough was likely, based on the level of the negotiating teams.
“I hope I’m 100% wrong. I hope tomorrow the news says they’ve agreed to a ceasefire; they’ve agreed to enter serious negotiations. But I’m just giving you my assessment, honestly,“ he said.
Russia said on Friday it had captured another village in its slow, grinding advance in eastern Ukraine. Minutes before the start of the Istanbul meeting, Ukrainian media reported an air alert and explosions in the city of Dnipro.
Russia says it sees the talks as a continuation of the negotiations that took place in the early weeks of the war in 2022, also in Istanbul.
But the terms under discussion then, when Ukraine was still reeling from Russia's initial invasion, would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv. They included a demand by Moscow for large cuts to the size of Ukraine's military.
Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Russian attempts to align the new talks with the unsuccessful earlier negotiations would fail.
With Russian forces now in control of close to a fifth of Ukraine, Putin has held fast to his longstanding demands for Kyiv to cede territory, abandon its NATO membership ambitions and become a neutral country.
Ukraine rejects these terms as tantamount to capitulation, and is seeking guarantees of its future security from world powers, especially the United States.
