A second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks are underway at Istanbul's Ciragan Palace on Monday, a day after Kyiv's daring Operation Spider Web, which it claimed struck as many as 40 warplanes located deep in Russian territory.
However, no resolution is expected yet, with Russia publicly accused of prolonging its proposed peace memorandum in order to make strategic battlefield gains, as well as for negotiating the best conditions they could possibly get.
Kyiv is again ready to take real steps towards peace if Moscow stops being rigid in their ceasefire requirements, and were ready to “move forward, not just repeat the same previous ultimatums”, a Reuters article said, quoting an unnamed source.
The source refers to Russia's constant attempts to force Ukraine to sue for peace in the three-year-long attrition conflict. Kyiv, on the other hand, refuses to lose its territory, but also seeks peace.
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Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide who heads Moscow's delegation, explained that Russia had received Ukraine's draft memorandum for a peace accord ahead of the talks. However, Kyiv has not yet confirmed receiving Russia's draft. Kyiv's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov heads the Ukrainian delegation.
Despite no ceasefire resolution at the previous peace negotiations on May 16 in Istanbul, the two sides agreed to a historic prisoner swap, freeing about 1,000 prisoners (POWs) on either side—the largest prisoner swap since the conflict escalated in February 2022.
Apart from Operation Spider Web, which inflamed Russian war bloggers and had them baying for blood, the two sides saw drone fire across the border as well, with Ukraine shooting down 52 of Russia's 80 drones, and the opposite site shooting down 162 of Kyiv's drones. This drone confrontation took place over Sunday night.
This comes at a time when US President Donald Trump's frustration grows at the Russia-Ukraine conflict continuing, despite America's efforts to get the two nations to engage in conducive dialogue. America has also warned the two nations of its possible exit from mediation efforts, if a resolution was not reached soon.
