Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks to Be Held in Istanbul; Moscow Skeptical of Possible Progress

Russia and Ukraine are set to begin a new round of peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, this coming Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the development in his nightly address on Monday.

He said, “Today, I discussed prisoner exchanges and the upcoming meeting with the Russian side in Turkey with (Ukraine’s National Security Chief) Rustem Umerov. Umerov has informed me that the meeting will take place on Wednesday.”

Zelensky had proposed the peace talks last weekend, around the same time U.S. President Donald Trump warned that if a ceasefire is not achieved between Moscow and Kyiv within 50 days, the U.S. would impose “serious sanctions” on Russia.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said,

“We do not expect any miraculous progress from these talks.”
He added,
“We will defend our interests and fulfill our goals, which were set at the very beginning of this war.”

Previous rounds of peace talks in Istanbul yielded no significant progress toward a ceasefire, and the two sides remain deeply polarized in their positions.

A senior Ukrainian official said that the upcoming discussions may include talks about a potential prisoner exchange and a direct meeting between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. A spokesperson for the Turkish government told AFP that the meeting would be held at the same location used for the previous rounds in May and June.

Russian state news agency RIA reported that the discussions will last two days—Thursday and Friday.

Escalating Attacks and Civilian Casualties

Meanwhile, Russia’s recent drone and missile attacks have increased civilian casualties across Ukraine.

• In the early hours of Tuesday, a Russian glide bomb hit a residential building in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, killing a child.
  
  

• Combined drone and missile attacks were carried out across six districts in the capital Kyiv.
  
  

• The Ukrainian military reported repelling more than 50 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk region in the east.
  
  

• Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi claimed that Russian special operations units have already attempted to enter the city.
  
  

Washington has pledged to supply Ukraine with additional weapons, particularly in response to the intensifying Russian assaults.

Despite repeated failures, the upcoming Istanbul talks are being viewed as another effort to bring an end to the war. However, analysts caution that the gap between the two sides remains so wide that any meaningful outcome still appears unlikely.