Key Takeaways from the Second Round of Peace Talks Between Russia and Ukraine

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During the peace negotiations, Russia conveyed to Ukraine that it would agree to cease the conflict only if Kyiv forfeits significant additional regions and consents to restrictions on its military size, as per a memorandum reported by Russian media.

The conditions, officially presented at talks in Istanbul overnight, underscored Moscow’s steadfastness on its established war objectives, despite pleas from US President Donald Trump to halt the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.

Ukraine has consistently dismissed the Russian stipulations as equivalent to capitulation.

What did the negotiations look like?

Delegations from the warring sides met for barely an hour, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. They agreed to exchange more prisoners of war — focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded — and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.

But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept.

Russia claims it seeks a lasting resolution to the conflict, not merely a temporary ceasefire; meanwhile, Ukraine states that Russian President Vladimir Putin is uninterested in peace talks. Trump has indicated that the United States is prepared to abandon its mediation role unless the parties make headway towards an agreement.

What is Russia demanding?

The Russian memorandum, which was published by the Interfax news agency, said a settlement of the war would require international recognition of Crimea — a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 — and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them.

Russia reiterated its demands that Ukraine embrace a neutral status — ruling out NATO membership — while ensuring the rights of Russian speakers, recognizing Russian as an official language, and instituting a legal prohibition against the glorification of Nazism. Ukraine dismisses the Nazi allegation as ridiculous and asserts it does not discriminate against Russian-speaking individuals.

Russia also formalised its terms for any ceasefire en route to a peace settlement, presenting two options that both appeared to be non-starters for Ukraine.

Option one, according to the text, was for Ukraine to start a full military withdrawal from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Of those, Russia fully controls the first but holds only about 70 per cent of the rest.

Option two was a package that would require Ukraine to cease military redeployments and accept a halt to foreign provision of military aid, satellite communications and intelligence. It would also have to lift martial law and hold presidential and parliamentary elections within 100 days.

Ukrainian children attend a Ukraine solidarity march in central London

Ukrainian children at a Ukraine solidarity march in central London on Sunday. Source: AAP / Andy Rain / EPA

How did Ukraine respond?

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov, who headed his country’s delegation, said Ukraine — which has drawn up its own peace roadmap — would review the Russian document, on which he offered no immediate comment.

According to the proposed roadmap, a copy of which was seen by the Reuters news agency, Ukraine wants no restrictions on its military strength after any peace deal, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Russian forces, and reparations.

Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes only a meeting between its president Volodomyr Zelenskyy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said.