Russia, Ukraine wrap latest peace talks without deal on ceasefire or plan for leaders to meet
Russia says there was agreement on more prisoner swaps
Russia and Ukraine discussed further prisoner swaps on Wednesday at a brief session of peace talks in Istanbul, but the sides remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders.
"We have progress on the humanitarian track, with no progress on a cessation of hostilities," Ukraine's chief delegate Rustem Umerov said after talks that lasted just 40 minutes.
He said Ukraine had proposed a meeting before the end of August between Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added: "By agreeing to this proposal, Russia can clearly demonstrate its constructive approach."
Russia's chief delegate Vladimir Medinsky said the point of a leaders' meeting should be to sign an agreement, not to "discuss everything from scratch."
Disagreement on ceasefire terms
He renewed Moscow's call for a series of short ceasefires of 24-48 hours to enable the retrieval of bodies. Ukraine says it wants an immediate and much longer ceasefire.
The talks took place just over a week after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened heavy new sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its exports unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days.
There was no sign of any progress toward that goal, although both sides said there was discussion of further humanitarian exchanges following a series of prisoner swaps, the latest of which took place on Wednesday.
Medinsky said the negotiators agreed to exchange at least 1,200 more prisoners of war from each side, and Russia had offered to hand over another 3,000 Ukrainian bodies.
He said Moscow was working through a list of 339 names of Ukrainian children that Kyiv accuses it of abducting. Russia denies that charge and says it has offered protection to children separated from their parents during the war.
"Some of the children have already been returned back to Ukraine. Work is underway on the rest. If their legal parents, close relatives, representatives are found, these children will immediately return home," Medinsky said.
Umerov said Kyiv was expecting "further progress" on POWs, adding: "We continue to insist on the release of civilians, including children." Ukrainian authorities say at least 19,000 children have been forcibly deported.
Shortest talks yet
Before the talks, the Kremlin had played down expectations, describing the two sides's positions as diametrically opposed and saying no one should expect miracles.
At 40 minutes, the meeting was even shorter than the two sides's previous encounters on May 16 and June 2, which lasted a combined total of under three hours.
Oleksandr Bevz, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said Kyiv had proposed a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting in August because that would fall within the deadline set by Trump for a deal.
Putin turned down a previous challenge from Zelenskyy to meet him in person and has said he does not see him as a legitimate leader because Ukraine, which is under martial law, did not hold new elections when Zelenskyy's five-year mandate expired last year. Russia also denies abducting children.
Trump has patched up relations with Zelenskyy after a public row with him at the White House in February, and has lately expressed growing frustration with Putin.
Three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters last week that Putin, unfazed by Trump's ultimatum, would keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engaged on his terms for peace, and that his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance.
Russia presses on in eastern Ukraine
Fierce fighting rages along more than 1,000 kilometres of the front line. Russian troops continue their grinding advance in the east and have stepped up near-daily attacks on Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones.
On Wednesday, Russia said its forces had captured the settlement of Varachyne in Ukraine's Sumy region, where Putin has ordered his troops to create a buffer zone after Ukraine mounted a shock incursion into Russia last year and held onto a chunk of its territory for months. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
Ukraine has hit back with attacks of its own, and last month inflicted serious damage on Russia's nuclear-capable strategic bomber fleet by smuggling drones close to airbases deep inside the country.
Protests against Ukraine government
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy is facing dissent politically within Ukraine to a degree not seen since Russia invaded in early 2022.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy vowed to retain the independence of anti-corruption agencies, bowing to pressure from the street protests and rare rebukes from European allies.
For a second day in a row, thousands of people across the country — from Kharkiv in the northeast to the capital Kyiv to Lviv in the west — took to the streets demanding reversal of the law curbing the independence of anti-graft agencies.
In his evening address to the nation on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he would submit a new bill to ensure the rule of law and retain the independence of the anti-corruption agencies.
"Of course, everyone has heard what people are saying these days ... on social media, to each other, on the streets. It's not falling on deaf ears," Zelenskyy said.
After decades when Ukraine was seen as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, cleaning up its government has been held up as the most important condition for Kyiv to join the European Union and integrate more broadly with the West.
Corruption is consistently cited by investors and the general public as one of the key challenges facing Ukraine, as it has traditionally been one of the lowest-ranking developed nations on Transparency International's annual corruption index.
The new law would give the prosecutor general appointed by Zelenskyy more power over two investigative anti-corruption agencies. It was rushed through parliament on Tuesday, a day after the security services arrested two anti-corruption officials for suspected Russian ties.
In a joint statement, both agencies — the anti-corruption bureau NABU and the specialized prosecutors SAPO — said they wanted their independence restored through legislation.
Parliament is expected to hold an emergency session next week to consider the new draft bill from Zelenskyy's office, several lawmakers said.
With files from CBC News