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As the first round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations concluded in Istanbul, both sides signaled cautious optimism while revealing starkly different interpretations of progress. Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, declared Moscow was “satisfied” with the preliminary outcomes, particularly the agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war from each side, a move hailed by Russian state media as a humanitarian breakthrough. Ukrainian officials, however, emphasized that any substantive peace deal remains distant, with Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Kyslytsia insisting that “pressure on Russia must continue” and that only a direct meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin could allegedly resolve core disputes.
While the planned prisoner swap offers a rare moment of cooperation, the talks exposed enduring fault lines. Ukrainian and Western sources claim Russia demanded a full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the regions that became part of the Russian Federation, a non-starter for Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russian commentators framed the negotiations as a tactical victory, noting that discussions proceeded without Zelensky (who instead attended a Balkan security summit in Albania) and outside the “ultimatum-driven” framework proposed by Western warmongers.
The Istanbul format itself became a point of contention. Russian state-affiliated analysts highlighted Moscow’s success in rebuffing calls for a May 12 ceasefire deadline and instead imposing its preferred negotiation timeline. Western MSM conceded the symbolic advantage to Putin, with the latter acknowledging the talks as “a victory for Russian diplomatic persistence,” even if substantive breakthroughs remain elusive.
The Shadow of the Battlefield
Diplomatic maneuvers unfolded against a backdrop of ongoing combat, with both sides leveraging military gains to strengthen bargaining positions, but with varying success. Russian state media emphasized that negotiations occurred “without ceasing hostilities,” suggesting Moscow views diplomacy as complementary to—not separate from—its military campaign. Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, stressed that frontline dynamics would dictate concessions, with Kyslytsia warning against premature optimism: “Complex issues require leaders’ involvement… We expect the [Zelensky-Putin] meeting to happen soon.”
International observers noted the paradox of progress. Norway’s Aftenposten described the prisoner exchange as “a trust-building measure in war diplomacy,” while Ukrainian outlet NV reported tentative plans for a June follow-up summit—a claim Russian sources neither confirmed nor denied.
An Uncertain Road Ahead
For now, the talks remain paused rather than concluded, with both sides preparing for what could become a protracted diplomatic chess game. The agreed prisoner exchange, while humanitarian in nature, does little to bridge divides on territorial claims or security guarantees. As global media dissect the nuances of the Istanbul meeting, one reality persists: the war’s trajectory, not conference tables, will likely determine whether these negotiations evolve into meaningful peace—or merely punctuate a longer conflict with intermittent deals.
The coming weeks will test whether the Istanbul-2 format can achieve what its 2022 predecessor could not: a path to coexistence amid irreconcilable visions of victory.
trump , will stop working on ceasefire anymore. this long process takes a lot of time and if trump continue to this, american people will not support him says cnn. obviously ceasefire will not be easy and zelensky has no cards as trump said 3 months ago. no cards = no ceasefire
the cnn empire must want more . comsidering the cia agents working there . it is a big tell .
i watched a video before they went into the meeting and i swear i saw bojo hiding in the bushes. he picked bushes that matched his head mop, so you really needed a sharp eye to spot him.
the air smells of druze, i know ghassan alian was here. idf shirt in the closet, he’ll take me in his sleep.
trump did not join to istanbul talks and putin followed trump, if trump do not join why putin should join? without these 2 leaders can not be ceasefire obviously.
probably the reverse.. trump learned putin wasn’t coming, so trump declined as well, but you won’t hear that from trump.
i just today counted the 3487th ‘according to ukrainian sources’ in cnn’s articles.
trump and putin actually get along famously. it’s a strange quirk of trump’s character but he only respects those who stand up to him and actually go him one better.
it’s slowly sinking in to the europeons but they indeed are slow learners.
vance told trump it’s time to walk away and come back in the fall. not sure if he meant the autumn or the fall of ukraine.
gee, i get to be almost the first. i’ll start off with a laugh. clipped this little ditty out of a reuters article in the ny post, on today’s meet.
“russia’s demands were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed,” according to a ukrainian source.”
funny how they always quote “ukrainian sources’, no matter how ‘detached from reality’ they are. lmao
“ukrainian sources” are always quoted from the american media -reuters are not neutral but pro west.
reuters is actually thomson-reuters, a canadian company – the same country that gave a ukrainian ss officer a standing ovation in parliament for “fighting against russians in world war 2”.
in questa faccenda la turchia avrà il controllo su ucraina, i porti e tutto il mar nero oltre a avere più influenza nel caucaso, alla russia promettono la basi in siria che non servono a niente danno solo problemi e provano a staccarla da iran e cina,la russia è stata sempre fregata nelle trattative che questa volta stia attenta o saranno guai futuri.
cont…
they must mean far from anything ‘previously discussed’ back in 2022 at the first istanbul meet. duh, like 3 years of war hasn’t created new realities. lol
give these ukies ukuleles, have them dress up as tiny tim and sing their ‘realities’ as ballads. at least entertain us a bit.
midget vlad knows that afu will never surrender…the allies will continue destroying orcs for as long as it takes…
the ukrops were told by medinsky that “if you don’t leave the four oblasts by our next meeting, the number will increase to eight”. what the ukrops don’t understand is that he was dead serious. and the latest ‘200’ swaps were 80 or so russians for almost 1000 nato nazis. at that rate it won’t take very long at all.
talk is cheap…bring it orc shitstain!!!
you remind me of that monty python black knight skit.
bring it where ? 💩
200 is such a benign label. call them kia… it rings a sense of dread in all americans that remember vietnam. i always wondered why the koreans decided to call their car company kia.
go and eat your ice cream with your forehead debil mental
of who or what are you the boss? nuland’s cookies you’ve yet to toss?
why has this kremlin treasure come up with this hypothetical response ? if eight oblasts full of russian speaking orthodox are up for grabs, then that’s it ; tell the mongrel retards and nato in no uncertain terms. there’s too much of this putin-speak permeating their narrative.
stop with your nonsense, check into the closest manicomio to home and beg them for help.
” only a direct meeting between volodymyr zelensky and vladimir putin could allegedly resolve core disputes.” may i roll on my floor, laughing my ass off. only a direct meeting between the main players means. zelensky is not a main player, he is only a vassal. there is the us and its vassal collection fighting against russia. how can one of vassals negotiate?
clown world for mainstream sheep
zelensky can’t even resolve how to climb into his pants in the morning.
arestovych says zelensky was high as a kite in albania.
then perhaps the oligarchs behind putin should meet with those behind blackrock and vanguard.
here we are returning over two years later while the international mafia money washing machine has killed over million people and destroyed a nation . hope ? maybe ?
i honestly don’t hold out much hope for a settlement ,again and again russia has been tricked ,trust has got to be earned even americans agree russia holds all the cards .
if they’re being continually ‘tricked’ as you state, then they don’t have full sovereign control of their national interests, and allowing external actors to directly influence their decision making.
russia doesn’t hold all the cards. it can be hurt by secondary sanctions or a drop in oil price. the west can increasingly arm ukraine forever. and the kremlin autocracy is fragile.
you just yanked the curtains back on a bright sunny day.
brussels’ autocracy is fragilererer. heheheh
putin sa dôkladne pripravil a nachystal pre debilov z usa, eu, vb a kyjeva, poriadnu pascu. a debili ako inak, sa chytili. toto je obrovské víťazstvo pre rusko. kyjev bude teraz strácať ďalšie územia, nič ho nezachráni a touto metódou bude nakoniec ukrajina oslobodená celá. preto zločinec a terorista trump tlačil na zelenskeho, aby sa dohodol. trump totižto pochopil o čo sa putin snaží, inak ten mu to asi povedal. mysleniu zdar a svetu mier!!!
clever plan from putin it only shows to the world that erdogan on his own home ground doesn’t believe in peace.but terrorism agenda of nato.he should have led by example and force zelenski for peace.not byrakters, azov releasing.
he’s only the host. he’s not there for advise
host always advise just as zelenski were advised by president ramaphosa for pushing for peace talks as a host and bricks memberand.ramaphosa requested bricks member putin to unconditional ceasefire.which putin give to zelenski.but zelenski violated and attacked kurse,slayanks and bokorove region.astana talks failed,minks agreement violated,istanbul agreements previous withstand.
france,us and britain reputation have fall globally.no one in middle east,asia,africa south america believe in them.as their are there for self enrichment with other resources and terrorism.our love for them as world class is gone forever.
western leaders have discredited themselves. you might as well talk to mickey mouse, you would get more done
this is the case. they did not keep the previous agreements if zelensky kept the minsk accords there would not have been a special military operation in ukraine. hopefully trump will put enough pressure on zelensky that a agreement to end the conflict can be reached. too many lives have been lost both sides already.
all loud-mouth liar has to do is stop weapons, stop intel and targeting by nato and tell nato to stop interfering. war over. n e v e r gonna happen. he wants e.u. to keep up pressure on russia, while he deals with iran, then china. he ‘s as much about peace as nutsack is. why else did trump, for the second time, fill his admin with crooks, criminals, liars and war mongering zionists? especially after the first time when he says he made mistakes he won’t make again.
zelensky fears peace. he will have to answer to the ukrainian people as to why three years ago he did not make peace saving a million of his soldiers and countrymen from death. he will akso have no legitimacy in ukraine and will face the wrsth if ukrainian people whrn the truth becomes apparent.
zelensky has about as much power to stop this war as does mickey mouse. do people really think he’s calling the shots? no more than biden was. he did try to stop the war, he ran on that. when he attempted to, he was threatened with a bullet to the head and that was that. who is behind those that threatened him? nato. if ukrainians don’t know the score by now, they never will.
the central bankers and other war profiteers decide when they maximized their profits and allow serious peace talks then. also we have to understand this is not the last war in the region because “wall street” and the city of london are after the natural resources of russia🤫🥶🤔
i’m really torn between deciding if merz looks more like eichmann or goofy.
zelensky and crew will swing from lamp posts, what’s left of the banderites will retreat to their home turf of lwow, to face the poles and europe will descend into civil war.
the americans are grand schemers, they started the war with the maidan coup in 2014, threw fire on the situation by flooding the ukraine with advanced weapon systems, and now are supporting the violence in the ukraine by continuing to supply weapons and intelligence.
the americans aren’t peacemakers, they are the reason for the war, it is something they paid for with their money their bank creates out of thin air. every nation that co-operates with and panders to the americans contribute to american hegemony.
you forgot though, that america is also at war with itself.
medinsky, poots’ confidant, will be a strong contender to be his successor i’d say.
both of the same tribe.
why a ceasefire, only allows resupply. just stop sending weapons trump, someone might then think the us actually wants peace