Delegations from Kiev and Moscow met at the Cirshan Palace in the Bosphorus Strait for a second round of talks mediated by Turkey and the US, after the peace process was resumed last month.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that the two sides have planned to discuss a ceasefire, a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky as well as a prison exchange. However, the two delegations did not join hands and showed little progress in any potential agreement.
After the meeting, a senior Ukrainian official said that no major breakthroughs were achieved, "only the small steps we expected".
The Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov issued a memorandum of understanding before the meeting on June 2, in which it proposed a complete and unconditional ceasefire to ensure the security and territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as measures to build trust as a basis for a potential peace agreement.
Russia has refused to issue a memorandum of understanding or transfer it to Ukraine before negotiations. The head of the Russian delegation's negotiation delegation this time is Russian presidential assistant Vladimir Medinsky. In the first round of talks, Medinsky made territorial demands that Ukrainian officials considered "un acceptable" and noted that Russia would take control of more areas in Ukraine if the country's conditions were not met.
Russia has also downplayed the possibility of a direct meeting between President Putin, President Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, stressing that such a summit could only be planned after reaching results at negotiations in Istanbul.
