The peace talks in Turkey today between Russia and Ukraine concluded on friday without reaching any colclusion . It's the first time in three years delegations from the two countries will be in the same room.
However, their respective positions seem to remain quite far apart.
Zelensky says his team's mandate is focused on ceasing fire immediately, the Russians said yesterday their focus is on long term peace and removing the "root causes of this crisis".
Translated from Kremlin-speak - this means they’re not really interested in a ceasefire, they’re interested in addressing what started this war from the Kremlin’s point of view – the very existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state.
Interestingly the head of the Russian delegation said yesterday that Russia was prepared to discuss compromises – what that means exactly is not clear.
Hopefully it’s a step forward and a sign of a bit of flexibility on the Russian side. However, he is the only person from the Russian delegation who has mentioned compromises.
Everybody else is sticking to their original demands, including no Nato membership for Ukraine and Russian control of at least five Ukrainian regions.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held face-to-face talks Friday, the first time the two countries have held direct talks at any level in three years.
Opening the meeting, in Istanbul, the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it was critically important that a ceasefire happened as soon as possible.
He said more lives were being lost every day, and both sides must take advantage of the opportunity provided by these talks.
There were no handshakes between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, and there’s little expectation of any major breakthrough.
But this is a step forward, and it has - at least - symbolic value.
Before the meeting, Ukraine said its priority was to achieve a lasting unconditional ceasefire, and it was ready for peace. Half the Ukrainian side are in camouflage military fatigues.
Who skipped the summit: Notably, neither Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or Russian President Vladimir Putin were not there, after several days of confusion. Zelensky criticized Putin for not sending “any real decision-makers” for the talks.
Trump skips the talks, too: Another key figure who was not present is US President Donald Trump, who had repeatedly hinted he might upend his Middle East travel schedule to join the negotiations. He’s pushing to meet Putin.
Fresh sanctions: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to place new sanctions on Moscow following Putin’s no-show. European leaders have been piling pressure on the Russian leader to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.
A Ukrainian source close to the Moscow-Kyiv peace talks under way in Istanbul tells the BBC that Russia demanded that the Americans not be present at the meeting.
For context: Earlier, the BBC's Tom Bateman reported that the US would meet the Russian delegation separately and would not attend the Ukraine-Russia-Turkey meeting.
They say the Ukrainians "came with a clear mandate" and accuse Russia of using the meeting to "stall for time and put on a show".
"We have intelligence that the Russians are planning to go straight to the hotel after the negotiations and press conference and from there to the airport. This also indicates that they may not be serious," the source adds.
If the meeting ends with no steps towards a resolution, the Ukrainian source says: "There will be a conversation about increasing pressure until something constructive appears."