Russia-Ukraine talks wrap up: As it happened
The second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks have ended in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Ahead of the talks, Kiev intensified drone attacks on Russian territory, targeting civilian infrastructure, trains, and military airfields, which Moscow claims are attempts to sabotage negotiations.
Just a day before scheduled talks, two bridges collapsed in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk border regions, leading to at least seven deaths and dozens of injured. The incidents were caused by sabotage, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
Later that same day, drones targeted military airfields in Murmansk Region in the country’s north, in Ivanovo and Ryazan regions in western Russia, and in Irkutsk Region in Siberia and Amur Region in the Far East. In response to Kiev’s raids, Russia has launched several retaliatory strikes targeting Ukraine’s defense industry facilities, as well as military assembly points and warehouses.
Some military bloggers and analysts suggest that Kiev may have undertaken such actions to demonstrate to its Western supporters that it still has the means to continue fighting Russia, as well as to intimidate the Russian population.
On Sunday afternoon, Russia’s delegation, led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, arrived in Istanbul. Ukraine’s team for the meeting is headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. According to Reuters, the delegation from Kiev will propose a 30-day ceasefire, prisoner exchanges (the “all for all”principle), and the return of Ukrainian children from Russian-held areas, aiming for an eventual meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky.
The previous round of Istanbul talks on May 16, the first since 2022, saw 1,000 prisoners exchanged per side. Both parties agreed to draft ceasefire proposals for today’s discussion. Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified that Putin is open to holding high-level direct talks with Kiev. However, he said this should be preceded by tangible progress in the current negotiations.
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02 June 2025
18:25 GMTThe Russian delegation has left Istanbul and is flying home, RT correspondent Konstantin Pridybaylo has reported.
- 18:24 GMT
Türkiye welcomes the “result-oriented approach” displayed by both the Russian and Ukrainian delegations during the Istanbul talks, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said in a post on X. “The talks were held in a constructive atmosphere, and the parties built on the points they had agreed upon during the first meeting,” the nation’s top diplomat said as he hailed new agreements on prisoner exchanges.
“I would like to reiterate my gratitude to both countries for their unwavering trust in Türkiye at this historic process,” the minister added.We hosted the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The talks were held in a constructive atmosphere, and the parties built on the points they had agreed upon during the first meeting. The humanitarian exchange is being expanded to include new categories and… pic.twitter.com/X1AH2CH2iF
— Hakan Fidan (@HakanFidan) June 2, 2025 - 17:39 GMT
Moscow’s peace proposal is “anything but an ultimatum,” the Russian delegation head and a presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, has told RT. This proposal could help the sides to “stop the fighting and take a huge step towards a lasting peace,” he said.
- 17:39 GMT
RT has obtained the text of the peace proposal that the Russian delegation shared with the Ukrainian side during the Istanbul talks.
The document contains Russia’s proposals for the “final settlement” of the Ukraine conflict, as well as two ways to reach a ceasefire and a roadmap that includes some unilateral moves by Moscow.
- 17:21 GMT
The heads of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations – Vladimir Medinsky and Rustem Umerov – held a bilateral meeting ahead of their teams’ negotiations, a source has told RT, adding that the meeting lasted around two and a half hours. The personal conversation between the two officials facilitated “effective” talks, the source added.
- 15:51 GMT
The head of Moscow's delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, has emphasized that Russia's Office of the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights regularly addresses issues of family reunification.
All children evacuated from combat zones are reunited with their families as soon as their parents or relatives are identified, he has stated, adding that Russia has returned a total of 101 children to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. The Ukrainian side handed over 22 children to Russia, according to Medinsky. - 15:48 GMT
The reunification of children with their families is a “matter of honor” for Russia, the head of Moscow’s delegation and a presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, has told journalists, commenting on Kiev’s demands to return Ukrainian minors that have allegedly been “abducted” by Russia.
Figures voiced by Ukraine at various international platforms, including the UN, have nothing to do with reality, Russia’s top negotiator said, adding that his team received a list of names of children Kiev wants returned. “It’s not a million and a half, it’s not 20,000. It has 339 names,” Medinsky has said.
The Russian side will thoroughly review it to determine whether these children are even in the country. According to the official, some 150 minors, whose disappearance had previously been blamed on Moscow, were eventually found in Germany.
“The issue of abduction of children is a show staged by the Ukrainian authorities that targets bleeding-heart Europeans,” Medinsky has said. “This shameful PR campaign has to stop.” - 15:22 GMT
Moscow has proposed a temporary ceasefire for two to three days in several parts of the front to facilitate the collection of soldiers’ bodies and prevent potential outbreaks of disease as the weather grows warmer, the head of Moscow’s delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, has said. “We want to create the conditions for the bodies to be collected and handed over for Christian burial,” he told journalists, adding that the Ukrainian side has promised to review the proposal “on short notice.”
- 15:21 GMT
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to establish medical commissions to help create exchange lists for severely injured soldiers “without the need to wait for big political decisions,” Vladimir Medinsky has told journalists after the talks. The swaps would be held regularly “in a routine manner,” he added.
