Istanbul set to host second round of Ukraine peace talks

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairs Turkiye-Russia-Ukraine Trilateral Meeting at Dolmabahce Presidential Office in Istanbul, Turkiye on May 16, 2025.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations will be in Istanbul on June 2 for the proposed second round of direct talks for reaching a long-term ceasefire to be followed by permanent peace through Turkish facilitation.

Türkiye has been carrying out intense diplomacy in the past week as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan shuttled between Moscow and Kiev while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the phone.

Meetings between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations are planned to be held at 13:00 p.m. at Istanbul's Çırağan Palace, Turkish diplomatic sources have said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Sunday and discussed a new round of peace talks with Ukraine, Russian state media said.

The two diplomats "exchanged their points of view on several initiatives aimed at a political solution to the Ukraine crisis, in particular the resumption of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the TASS news agency.

Zelensky, in a written statement on June 1, announced his decision to deploy the Ukrainian negotiation team to Istanbul, although he was voicing his skepticism over the Russian motivations.

He confirmed that Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who is also the leader of the negotiation team, will be in Istanbul on June 2.

He listed his priorities as “a full and unconditional ceasefire; the release of prisoners and the return of abducted children."

“And in order to establish a reliable and lasting peace and ensure security, preparation of the meeting at the highest level. The key issues can only be resolved by the leaders,” he said, referring to his proposal of convening a four-way summit with the participation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Erdoğan.

“We are doing everything to protect our independence, our state, and our people. I outlined the tasks for the near term and also defined our positions ahead of the meeting in Istanbul on Monday,” Zelensky said in his message.

In a statement over the weekend, Zelensky complained that Moscow has not submitted its conditions for the resumption of ceasefire talks, although Kiev has already shared them with Türkiye and the U.S.

Kremlin, in a statement over the weekend, said that the Russian delegation led by Putin’s aide, Vladimir Medinsky, will be in Istanbul on June 2.

The first round of direct talks between the two warring nations took place again in Istanbul on May 16, which resulted in an exchange of 1,000 war prisoners. The two sides had also agreed to outline their positions for reaching a ceasefire after nearly three and a half years of war.

Fidan, in a statement after his visit to Moscow, had stressed that a long-term ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is the most realistic option given the current situation.

He also informed that Türkiye proposed formulas to overcome the differences between the two sides.