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Russia, Ukraine meet in Turkey in first direct peace talks in 3 years, but little progress expected

The officials present in Turkey – including Ukraine’s defence minister – sat together around a table, but the two sides are far apart in their conditions for ending the war

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Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are in Turkey for talks about Vladimir Putin’s war, which began in February 2022. Photo: Handout via EPA-EFE

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 in narrowing the gap between the sides, and with a Ukrainian source calling Moscow’s demands “non-starters”.

The two nations had gathered in Istanbul on Friday for Turkish-brokered negotiations.

A Ukrainian delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov sat down with a low-level Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, who published a photo of the meeting.

The officials sat around a U-shaped table, with Russians and Ukrainians facing each other.

A senior Ukrainian official later accused Moscow of introducing “unacceptable demands” that had not been previously discussed, including calls for Kyiv’s forces to withdraw from large swathes of territory they control.

The official, who spoke to Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to make official statements, said it seemed as if the Russian delegation “deliberately wants to throw non-starters on the table” to walk away “without any results”.

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