Ukraine and Russia far apart in the first straight negotiations, but the prisoner changed

For more than three years, a small step forward to democracy has taken place in Europe since 1945 on Friday.

Delegations from Ukraine and Russia faced the face for the first time since March 2022 – a month after Moscow invaded the neighbor. The production was the Ottoman Palace on the Bosphar shore in Istanbul.

Pressure and encouragement from Turkey and the US helped to bring warring parties there.

There were no handshakes, and half of the Ukrainian delegation wore camouflage military fatigue – a reminder that their nation was attacking.

The room was flooring Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian flags – two – and a large flower arrangement – a world, far from destroyed cities and swollen cemetery of Ukraine.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the delegations that there were two ways ahead of the world that leads to peace and the other leading to greater death and destruction.

The negotiations lasted less than two hours, and soon there were sharp divisions. According to the Ukrainian official, the Kremlin expressed “new and unacceptable demands”. This included an insist that Kiev refused his troops from most of his own territory, he said in exchange for ceasefire.

Although there was no breakthrough in the solving issue of the truce – as expected – there is a news about one material result.

Each side will return 1000 prisoners of war in the second.

“It was a very good end of a very difficult day,” said the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Sergius Chisz and “potentially excellent news for 1000 Ukrainian families.”

A swap will soon take place, said the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rusmem, which headed the delegation of his country. “We know the date,” he said, “we don’t yet announce it.”

He said that the “next step” should be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

This request was “marked” according to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky – Assistant to the President. He said the Russian delegation was granted the negotiations and was ready to continue contacts.

He said the Russian delegation was granted the negotiations and was ready to continue contacts.

This was a change from Thursday when the Russian Foreign Ministry called President Zelensky “clown and losers”.

But there are fears – among Ukraine and some of its allies – that Russia is involved in diplomacy simply to buy time, to distract from international pressure to cease fire and to try to avoid the 18th round of European sanctions. The EU says they are already working.

And although both sides were sitting at the table, President Trump said that the only talks that are counted would be those who are between him and the president Putin.

He announced on Thursday, in the middle of the flight to the Air Force, the first thing that “nothing would happen until Putin and I will come together.”

It is unclear when there will be a meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Pesko says the highest level negotiations are definitely necessary, “but the summit will take time.

Whenever these conversations take place, President Zelensky is unlikely to be invited.