Russia, Ukraine fail to reach ceasefire deal again, agree on prisoner swap
The second round of direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ended without any major progress. However, an agreement was reached on a further prisoner swap between the two countries.
The BBC reported this on Tuesday (June 3).
Ukrainian negotiators claimed that Russia has again rejected an unconditional ceasefire, which Kiev and its European and US allies have long demanded. However, both sides have promised to return the bodies of 12,000 soldiers even if a ceasefire agreement is not reached.
However, the Russian delegation said that they had proposed a two- or three-day ceasefire in certain areas of the vast front line, but nothing more was given.
Representatives of Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday. In talks that lasted more than an hour, both sides agreed to exchange sick and seriously injured prisoners of war, as well as those under the age of 25.
Expectations for a deal were low even before the second round of talks began. The two sides remain deeply divided over how to end the war that has been raging since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow currently controls about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula it annexed in 2014.
At a briefing after the meeting, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustam Umerov, who led Kiev’s negotiating team, said Ukraine insisted on a full and unconditional ceasefire on land, sea and air for at least 30 days to stop the killing immediately.
He added, “Ukraine handed over its ceasefire proposal to Russia a few days ago. But Moscow did not do so. It only presented its plan at the Istanbul talks.”
However, neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian ceasefire proposals have been officially published.
However, after the talks ended, Russian state-run media reported the main points of Moscow’s position. This includes demands for the withdrawal of Ukrainian military forces from four partially occupied regions in the southeast.
