Russia, Ukraine agree to swap 1,000 prisoners of war in first direct peace talks in three years
Head of the Russian delegation also confirmed that Russia and Ukraine would now share written proposals for a possible ceasefire.
Russian and Ukrainian officials met face-to-face for about two hours on Friday (16 May 2025) in Istanbul, marking their first direct talks in over three years. Hopes for a breakthrough remained low, but the two sides agreed on a major prisoner exchange.
After the meeting, head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky said both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each — their largest swap since the war began in 2022.
Medinsky also confirmed that Russia and Ukraine would now share written proposals for a possible ceasefire.
Ukraine has called for a meeting between the two heads of state. Medinsky said Russia would consider the request and is willing to continue negotiations.
This was the first direct peace meeting between the two countries since the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The session ended after under two hours, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and a senior Ukrainian official.
However, Kyiv later accused Moscow of making new “unacceptable demands,” including a full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from large areas of territory. A Ukrainian official, speaking anonymously to The Associated Press, said these terms had not been raised in earlier discussions.
Britain’s prime minister responded, saying European leaders and former US President Donald Trump all consider Russia’s position in the ceasefire talks to be unacceptable, as reported by AP report.
Also Read: Trump pushes for direct talks with Putin amid Russia-Ukraine peace efforts
The Ukrainian official added that Kyiv is still committed to making progress: “an immediate ceasefire and a pathway to substantive diplomacy, just like the U.S., European partners, and other countries proposed,” he said.
Donald Trump's take on Putin's absence
The two delegations sat around a U-shaped table, but their views on how to end the war remained very different. US President Donald Trump has pushed both Moscow and Kyiv to stop the fighting, saying he plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “as soon as we can set it up.”
“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi at the end of his Middle East visit.
On Thursday, Putin rejected an offer from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey. Zelenskyy said Moscow was not serious about peace, as it sent only a low-level team.
Ukraine has accepted a proposal from the U.S. and European nations for a full 30-day ceasefire. But Putin has not agreed and instead has set wide-ranging conditions that Ukraine says are not acceptable.
