Russia and Ukraine used a second round of direct talks in Istanbul to agree another prisoner exchange, but the meeting again exposed how far apart the two sides remain over how to end the war.
According to the BBC's live reporting from the talks, the delegations confirmed that all sick and severely wounded prisoners of war, as well as those younger than 25, would be exchanged. The arrangement followed an earlier direct meeting that had already produced a prisoner swap, making the return of captives one of the few areas where the two sides have found enough common ground to act.
The broader diplomatic picture was much less promising. Ukrainian negotiators said Russia rejected Kyiv's demand for an unconditional ceasefire, which Ukraine and its allies have pressed as the first step toward any real peace process. Russian officials instead said they had offered a two-to-three-day truce in specific areas of the front line, framed as a pause to allow the collection of bodies.
Russia also said it would hand over the remains of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers next week. Ukrainian officials said Moscow had delivered a memorandum setting out Russian proposals for a lasting ceasefire and said Kyiv would review it before responding.
The BBC reported that both sides said they were satisfied with the practical outcome of the meeting, even as the substance remained sharply contested. Rustem Umerov, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, said the most sensitive questions could only be resolved in face-to-face talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Vladimir Putin, and suggested such a meeting should happen by the end of the month.
That prospect remains uncertain. There was no sign of agreement on a leaders' meeting by the end of the Istanbul session, and Ukrainian officials continued to argue that Russia was using the talks to avoid tougher pressure while keeping military options open. Zelensky, speaking separately at a Nato summit in Vilnius, accused Moscow of "playing games" and called for more sanctions.
Turkey, which hosted the talks, said it would keep trying to facilitate further contact. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped Zelensky and Putin could meet in Istanbul or Ankara and suggested President Donald Trump could also take part. But the Istanbul session itself, lasting just over an hour, mainly reinforced the pattern of limited humanitarian deals and no meaningful move toward a ceasefire.
The talks came as both countries remained under intense external pressure. Ukraine wants a 30-day ceasefire while negotiations continue. Russia has resisted that demand, preferring to discuss what it calls lasting peace on terms it has not publicly set out in full. For now, the exchange of prisoners is the clearest result of the dialogue, while the war's larger political questions remain unresolved.
