Russia, Ukraine agree prisoner swap as talks end in less than two hours

Russian and Ukrainian officials met for less than two hours in Turkiye for their first direct talks in more than three years, aimed at ending the war.

The delegations met on Friday at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace in Turkiye, where the two sides failed to agree on a ceasefire despite pressure from United States President Donald Trump to end the war.But before they adjourned, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations, in what would be their biggest such swap since the war began.

Both sides also discussed a ceasefire and a meeting between their heads of state, according to chief Ukrainian delegate Rustem Umerov.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s delegation, confirmed that both sides agreed to provide each other with detailed ceasefire proposals and a meeting between their heads of state.

A Ukrainian source told the Reuters news agency, on condition of anonymity, that Russia’s ultimatums to end the war included a demand for Kyiv to withdraw from parts of its territory to obtain a ceasefire, “and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions”.Russia’s demands were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed”, the source said.

Medinsky said Moscow was satisfied with the Istanbul talks’ results and was ready to continue talking to Kyiv.‘Two paths’ ahead
At the palace, the two delegations sat in front of each other, the Russian officials dressed in suits and half the Ukrainians wearing camouflage military uniforms.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who chaired the meeting, told the delegations there were “two paths” ahead of them.Russia has said it sees the talks as a continuation of the negotiations that took place in the early weeks of the war in 2022, which included demands on Ukraine to cut the size of its military.

Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said the prisoner exchange, one of the largest since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, comes as both sides are “under pressure” from Trump to end the war.

“This could be a way of indicating that there is something worth talking about at these talks,” Smith said. “We know already though, both sides have very different views on how [a deal] should come about – the Ukrainians want an immediate 30-day ceasefire. The Russians want longer-term talks about Ukraine’s status as a neutral country.”