Summary of the day so far
It’s 10pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Russian and Ukrainian representatives met for a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, but with little progress toward ending the war. Delegations met for barely an hour and agreed to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.
Russia presented terms during the negotiations that highlighted its refusal to compromise on its longstanding war goals. A text of Moscow’s memorandum, published by Russian state media, said a settlement would require international recognition of Crimea and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory, as well as the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces. It also ruled out Ukrainian membership of Nato and demanded recognising Russian as the country’s official language.
Russia’s memorandum presented two options that both appeared to be non-starters for Ukraine. Option one: for Ukraine to start a full military withdrawal from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Option two: Ukraine to cease military redeployments and accept a halt to foreign provision of military aid, satellite communications and intelligence. Kyiv would also have to lift martial law and hold presidential and parliamentary elections within 100 days.
Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said officials would need a week to review Russia’s memorandum and decide on a response. Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said Kyiv was proposing further talks sometime between 20 and 30 June, but he added that Kyiv believes only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention.
Umerov said the “only real progress” from the talks was reaching an agreement on releasing prisoners. The delegations agreed to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action and to set up a commission to exchange seriously wounded troops. Zelenskiy said Ukraine presented a list of 400 children it says have been abducted to Russia, but that the Russian delegation agreed to work on returning only 10 of them.
Russia’s lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow proposed a partial ceasefire of “two to three days” at the talks in Istanbul. He told reporters that the proposed ceasefire would apply to certain areas of the front line to allow commanders to collect the bodies of their soldiers. It comes after Ukraine said Russia rejected its offer of an unconditional ceasefire.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he hoped to bring together the Russian and Ukrainian leaders for a meeting with Donald Trump. The White House said Trump was “open” to an invitation by the Turkish leader, but that he “wants both of these leaders and both sides to come to the table together.”
Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said the “only real progress” from talks with the Russian delegation in Istanbul on Monday was reaching an agreement on releasing prisoners.
In a post on social media, Umerov wrote:
We have reached agreements on:
– an “all-for-all” exchange of all severely wounded and seriously ill;
– an “all-for-all” exchange of all soldiers aged 18–25;
– the return of fallen soldiers’ bodies — 6,000 for 6,000.
He said the Ukrainian side also handed over a list of abducted Ukrainian children, adding:
Even a partial return would be a humanitarian step — if Russia is genuinely interested in moving toward peace.
Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said he has briefed his president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a second round of talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday.
Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said his side acted “clearly and consistently” and that one of the key points is an unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days.
“This has been our principle — and the position of our partners — for many months,” he said.
He accused Russia of rejecting “even the very idea of halting the killing” and of stalling for time.
“Our documents were handed over in advance,” Umerov wrote.
But the Russian ‘memorandum’ was handed over only today — during the meeting itself. This created conditions that prevented the meeting from delivering the concrete results needed to end the war.
Trump 'open' to meeting Putin and Zelenskyy in Turkey, says White House
The White House said Donald Trump is “open” to an invitation by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to hold three-way peace talks in Turkey with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
As we reported earlier, the Turkish leader reiterated his willingness on Monday to host a meeting between Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
Turkey would “take steps” to facilitate such a meeting, Erdoğan said, following direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul earlier on Monday.
Asked about Erdoğan’s proposal, the White House's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said:
The president has said he’s open to it if it comes to that, but he wants both of these leaders and both sides to come to the table together.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, has accused the Russians of “doing everything they can to avoid a ceasefire and continue the war”.
In a post on social media, Yermak called for new sanctions against Russia, adding that “rationality is not something that applies to Russia”.
Ukraine and Russia to exchange lists for prisoner of war swap, says Zelenskyy
Ukraine and Russia agreed at talks in Istanbul on Monday that they will exchange lists of people next week that they want included in a planned prisoner of war swap, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian president, during a news briefing, said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each, with the possibility of swapping an additional 200 PoWs.
There was also agreement to return the remains of killed service personnel, but this would take careful preparation, he added.
He added that Ukrainian negotiators gave their Russian counterparts a list of nearly 400 Ukrainian children that Kyiv wanted Moscow to return home, but that the Russian delegation agreed to work on returning only 10 of them.
Russian negotiators have handed Ukraine two proposed options for a ceasefire, Russian state media said on Monday.
RIA news agency said the first would require Ukraine to commence a complete withdrawal of all its forces from four regions of the country that Russia has claimed as its own territory.
The second option would be a “package” deal containing a number of conditions, RIA said.
The day so far
Ukraine has proposed to hold a next round of talks with Russia before the end of June. “We propose to the Russian side to hold a meeting by the end of this month, from 20th to 30th of June,” Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said after today’s talks in Istanbul.
The Ukrainians agreed to return 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers, he said, while providing the Russian side a list of Ukrainian children abducted to Russian territory during the war. “This matter is a fundamental priority for us: If Russia is genuinely committed to a peace process, the return of at least half the children on this list is positive,” Umerov said.
Russia rejected an unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine at the talks in Istanbul, a Kyiv negotiator, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said. “The Russian side continued to reject the motion of an unconditional ceasefire,” Kyslytsya told reporters in a press conference after the talks.
Moscow’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has said that Russia proposed a partial ceasefire of “two to three days” at the talks in Istanbul. “We have proposed a specific ceasefire for two to three days in certain areas of the front line,” Medinsky said, “so that commanders can collect the bodies of their soldiers”. We have not heard what the Ukrainian position on this specific, short ceasefire is yet.
Turkey will take steps to bring together the leaders of Russia and Ukraine for talks in either the capital Ankara or in Istanbul, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. “My desire is to bring Putin and Zelenskyy together in Istanbul or Ankara. Also to invite Trump to this meeting as well... We will take steps for this meeting after the latest talks,” Erdogan said, speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.
Nordic, Baltic and central European Nato members are committed to Ukrainian membership of the military alliance, the leaders of Poland, Romania and Lithuania said in a joint statement after a summit of the B9 and Nordic countries on Monday, Reuters reports.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz will push for a “fair ceasefire” in Ukraine during his first in-person meeting with Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, according to a German government spokesperson. Merz, who was confirmed as chancellor after a shaky start last month, has promised to put staunch support of Ukraine at the heart of his government amid persistent concerns over US security commitments to Europe.
Ukraine said on Sunday it had destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia, in its longest-range assault of the war. In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it had damaged $7bn worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres (miles) away, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke. A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) said the strikes hit 41 planes that were used to “bomb Ukrainian villages”.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, has said in a Telegram post that Ukraine destroyed at least 13 planes during the drone attack on Russian airbases yesterday, adding that other military planes were damaged.
Russian officials held a competing press conference in the grounds of the Çırağan palace while the Ukrainian delegation was still talking, in a fitting conclusion to a day of talks that frequently saw Ukrainian and Russian diplomats attempting to marshal crowds of journalists as the brief negotiations wrapped up, with Ukrainian diplomats reluctant to admit Russian media to their briefing.
Chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told journalists that Moscow delivered a memorandum to the Ukrainian side which includes “steps towards a full ceasefire.” In the interim, Moscow suggested “a ceasefire for two to three days in certain areas,” he added, without specifying which areas he was referring to.
The Ukrainian side has repeatedly said that major issues can only be solved with a ceasefire in place first, or in the words of foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, “the diplomats can speak when the guns are silent.” The Ukrainian side repeatedly declined to comment on the contents of Russia’s memorandum when speaking to journalists, saying they were presented with the document for the first time during today’s meeting and that their side would have to study it first before providing any form of response.
Kyiv has repeatedly questioned whether Moscow is serious about negotiations, and the results of talks today suggested progress in the same areas as several weeks ago, namely an exchange of prisoners of war, rather than the substantive talks to end the fighting that the Ukrainians say they are ready to engage in.
Medinsky said that Moscow will hand over 6000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers next week, part of an exchange that will also see Kyiv deliver the same number of bodies of fallen Russian soldiers.
The chief Russian negotiator said that a separate exchange of prisoners of war will involve “no less than 1000 soldiers from our side,” while the Ukrainians said their focus was on categories of detainees, namely soldiers aged 18-25 and severely wounded prisoners, declining to name a specific number to be exchanged. Medinsky confirmed this, adding that “all,” sick and wounded prisoners will be swapped.
One key talking point that emerged during today’s negotiations was Ukraine handing Russia a list of “several hundred,” children that Kyiv wants returned from Russia according to Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov. These abductions were the subject of an international criminal court arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin as well as other Russian officials.
Medinsky acknowledged the Ukrainians’ demand in his comments to journalists, saying that Ukraine handed Russian negotiators a list “that contains 339 names,” to be returned, without commenting further.
Russia rejected an unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine at the talks in Istanbul, Kyiv negotiator Sergiy Kyslytsya says.
Moscow has consistently rejected extended ceasefire proposals, arguing they would give Ukraine time to rearm and regroup at a time Russian forces are making battlefield advances.
Ukraine has proposed a further round of talks with Russia before the end of June.
Turkey will take steps to bring together the leaders of Russia and Ukraine for talks in either the capital Ankara or in Istanbul, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
“My desire is to bring Putin and Zelenskyy together in Istanbul or Ankara. Also to invite Trump to this meeting as well... We will take steps for this meeting after the latest talks,” Erdogan said, speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.
Russia offered Ukraine partial '2-3 day' ceasefire, Moscow's top negotiator says
We reported in an earlier post that Ukraine said that during the talks this afternoon Russia rejected its offer of an unconditional ceasefire, as Moscow has done in the past.
Moscow’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has now said that Russia proposed a partial ceasefire of “two to three days” at the talks in Istanbul.
“We have proposed a specific ceasefire for two to three days in certain areas of the front line,” Medinsky said, “so that commanders can collect the bodies of their soldiers”. We have not heard what the Ukrainian position on this specific, short ceasefire is yet.
The Ukrainian side said little about how a wide-ranging drone strike on targets over 2500 miles from their territory impact negotiations today.
In response to questions on the subject, foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said:
The key thing is that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is defending itself – Ukraine only targets legitimate military targets inside Russia, legitimate military targets, and international law allows us to do this.
Umerov added that the Ukrainian side would take the documents provided by the Russians in order to study them in the coming week, prior to a third meeting of their delegations at the end of this month.
However, he added, “we believe that all the key issues can only be solved at the level of leaders …with the possible involvement of other leaders such as the president of the United States.”
Tykhyi added:
If Putin says he is ready to meet tomorrow, our president Zelenskyy is ready to meet him tomorrow.
Updated
Ukraine agreed to return 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers – defence minister
Ruth Michaelson is reporting from Istanbul
Today’s talks concluded after less than two hours, even less than the limited talks a few weeks ago.
Ukrainian defence minister and lead negotiator Rustem Umerov left the Çırağan palace to briefly speak to the media gathered outside, telling reporters that the talks have produced a second exchange of prisoners of war, this time focusing on the severely injured and young people.
In a longer press conference inside the palace, Umerov said his team came with three agenda items, primarily a ceasefire.
We are insisting on a full and unconditional end to the killing now: An unconditional ceasefire, meaning air, sea and land for at least 30 days. This demand has been unchanged for three months and we consider it the basis of a peaceful resolution.
The second point is the release of “all prisoners and all abducted children,” Umerov said. This would be an “all for all” exchange rather than focusing on numbers, meaning all seriously wounded and sick prisoners of war, as well as an exchange of all soldiers aged 18-25.
The Ukrainians agreed to return 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers, he said, while providing the Russian side a list of Ukrainian children abducted to Russian territory during the war.
“This matter is a fundamental priority for us: If Russia is genuinely committed to a peace process, the return of at least half the children on this list is positive,” Umerov said.
Umerov and deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya both complained that their team had only received a Russian memo outlining their demands for an end to the war during the meeting, rather than beforehand as they demanded.
“We could not react to the Russian proposals as they were literally only advanced during the meeting. Nevertheless we manage to construct our conversation in a way that we can have a tangible humanitarian outcome,” Kyslytsya said.
“The Russian side continues to reject the notion of an unconditional ceasefire, the same one the president of the United States offered a while ago...the same unconditional ceasefire our delegation has offered once again.”
Updated
Ukraine proposes next round of Russia talks before end of June
Ukraine has proposed to hold a next round of talks with Russia before the end of June.
“We propose to the Russian side to hold a meeting by the end of this month, from 20th to 30th of June,” Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said after today’s talks in Istanbul.
He added that the delegations should try to agree a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy last month challenged Putin to meet him personally in Istanbul after the Russian president rejected a demand from Ukraine and European allies to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire.
Putin didn’t turn up. Russia’s delegation was instead headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led today’s talks for Moscow.
Russia rejected offer of unconditional ceasefire at talks – Ukrainian negotiator
Russia rejected an unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine at the talks in Istanbul, a Kyiv negotiator, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said.
“The Russian side continued to reject the motion of an unconditional ceasefire,” Kyslytsya told reporters in a press conference after the talks.
Moscow has consistently rejected extended ceasefire proposals, arguing they would give Ukraine time to rearm and regroup at a time Russian forces are making battlefield advances.
Updated
Prisoner of war exchange will focus on the seriously injured and young soldiers – Ukraine
We mentioned in an earlier post that Kyiv expects more prisoners of war will be exchanged with Russia after talks concluded with Moscow in Istanbul.
Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said the sides agreed an exchange of prisoners that would focus on swapping the severely injured and the young.
Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Umerov said the remains of dead soldiers would also be repatriated as part of the exchange, according to Reuters. He also said there was discussion about a potential meeting between Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, possibly also involving Donald Trump at the end of June.
As a reminder, at the end of last month Ukraine and Russia completed a “1,000 for 1,000” prisoner swap after three days of exchanges – the biggest total swap of the war. This exchange was agreed in the previous talks in Istanbul held in May.
Updated
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda spoke just before Volodymyr Zelenskyy did.
Nausea said Lithuania will be spending 4% of GDP on defence this year and more than 5% from the next year to 2030. He says he believes allies will be ready to “substantially increase” defence spending amid concerns about Russian aggression spreading beyond Ukraine.
The Lithuanian president said he expects a recommitment to collective defence at the Nato summit taking place in the Netherlands at the end of the month.
“At the Hague summit we expect a message of transatlantic unity, reaffirmed commitment to collective defence and readiness to defend the allied territory,” he said.
The current Nato spending target on defence is of at least 2% of GDP, but the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, has indicated that new benchmark of 5% will be announced soon.
Updated
Zelenskyy: Putin can't be allowed to decide who can join Nato as this will only allow his 'appetite for war to grow'
Here is a summary of what else Zelenskyy said during his address in Vilnius after a summit in the Lithuanian capital:
He said sanctions against Russia are “necessary”, adding it is important to “seriously limit” Russia’s oil trade and Moscow’s use of tankers.
“Without pressure Putin will just keep playing games with everyone who wants this war to end,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelenskyy says he expects more prisoners of war to be freed.
“The key to lasting peace is clear: the aggressor must not receive any reward for war. Putin must get nothing that would justify his aggression. Any reward would only show him that war pays off.”
If Putin decides who can and cannot join Nato, then Russia’s “appetite for war” will only grow, Zelenskyy said, adding that the goal should be to completely end “Russia’s hunger for aggression”.
Updated
Second round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul have concluded - reports
We are seeing reports from the newswires that the talks between Russia and Ukraine have concluded barely an hour after they began. We were expecting them to continue for much longer.
The two sides had been expected to discuss their ideas for what a full ceasefire and a longer term path to peace should look like amid pressure from Donald Trump, who has said the US could abandon its role as a mediator if there is no progress.
Updated
Zelenskyy calls for 'a new level of sanctions' on Russia if Istanbul talks fail
While so-called peace talks have been underway in Turkey, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been speaking in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius following a summit.
He has said more sanctions on Moscow could deter further Russian aggression and bring the two sides closer to peace.
Zelenksyy said there must be “a new level of pressure, new sanctions - and not just from Europe” should today’s talks in Istanbul fail.
“Without pressure, Putin will just keep playing games,” the Ukrainian president said, adding that Ukraine’s allies must “act in unity”. He calls for joint sanctions “at the G7 level,” including from Washington.
Updated
Ukraine says it has handed Russia a list of children it wants returned
The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has said Ukrainian delegates at the talks in Istanbul have given Russian negotiators a list of children Kyiv wants Moscow to return to Ukraine.
EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen met with US Republican senator Lindsey Graham to discuss EU-US coordination on sanctions on Russia, the European commission has said in a press release. Here is some of the readout:
The president made the objective clear: we need a real ceasefire, we need Russia at the negotiating table, and we need to end this war. Pressure works, as the Kremlin understands nothing else.
This is why the President welcomed that Senator Graham committed to ramping up pressure on Russia and moving ahead with the bill in Senate next week.
The EU is preparing its 18th package of hard-biting sanctions, targeting Russia’s energy revenues, including Nord Stream infrastructure, Russia’s banking sector and lowering the crude oil price cap.
These steps, taken together with US measures, would sharply increase the joint impact of our sanctions, said President von der Leyen.
Graham is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to impose more sanctions on Russia. Lawmakers – from both the Republican party and the Democrats – are expected to shortly move forward with a vote on the bill this week.
Here are some more quotes from Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan, who is chairing the talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul. He made the comments just before the negotiations got under way:
At today’s meeting, we will continue to evaluate the conditions and perspectives of the two countries regarding the ceasefire, and aim to take the process of exchanging prisoners of war one step further with humanitarian considerations…
We also plan to address the necessary preparations for the leaders’ meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“(US President Donald) Trump’s determination to establish peace has opened a new window of opportunity,” Fidan added.
Updated
Turkish foreign minister: 'world’s eyes are on negotiations' in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine
Ruth Michaelson is reporting from Istanbul
Ukrainian defence officials say that talks have finally begun, almost two hours after they were scheduled to start. Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, who visited Kyiv and Moscow in preparation for today’s talks, kicked off the negotiations by saying “we believe peace is within reach”.
“In today’s meeting we aim to continue the assessment of both sides’ conditions for a ceasefire, with the aim of taking further steps,” he said. Turkish state television showed Ukrainian negotiators in military fatigues sitting opposite their dark-suited Russian counterparts as he spoke.
The Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had exchanged memos outlining their respective visions for a ceasefire, he said adding: “This shows their will to exchange views today.”
Turkish officials are hoping to foster trust between the negotiating teams, despite Ukrainian concerns that Moscow has now repeatedly sent a team composed of deputy ministers and aides with little negotiating power, intended to act as a messenger service for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Fidan hailed US president Donald Trump’s faith in the talks despite Trump’s previous statements that only a meeting between him and Putin is likely to bring real change.
The foreign minister was flanked by intelligence chief İbrahim Kalin, who has previously described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “unlawful,” adding that Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territory as “illegal.”
Washington has indicated in recent weeks that it is seeking a deal that could see both Russia and Ukraine “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” according to vice-president JD Vance. This has come with little clarity for what this could mean for the status of the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Outside the plush carpeted negotiation rooms of the Çırağan palace, tankers cruising along the Bosphorus are a reminder of the wider implications of the war. As negotiators spoke, several container ships and another carrying oil sailed along the Bosphorus, bound for Russian territory. Ukraine has demanded that western nations step up sanctions on Russia, including targeting its oil industry, should Moscow continue to prove reluctant to engage in negotiations.
Fidan said Turkey is seeking “a sustainable peace,” adding: “These talks will decide our common fate. The world’s eyes are on negotiations here.”
Updated
Turkey’s government has issued handout photos from Istanbul of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations that are meeting now for direct talks.
Second round of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia begin in Istanbul
Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister of Turkey, has said that he is glad that a second round of direct talks has started between Ukrain and Russia. The talks are being hosted in Istanbul. Fidan said the aim is to discuss the ceasefire requirements of both sides. He added that it was important that the US was contributing to the peace process, and said he was sure the talks would bring concrete results.
More details soon …
Reuters has a quick snap that a Ukrainian ministry of defence official has told the news agency that the talks in Istanbul are beginning.
Nordic, Baltic and central European Nato members are committed to Ukrainian membership of the military alliance, the leaders of Poland, Romania and Lithuania said in a joint statement after a summit of the B9 and Nordic countries on Monday, Reuters reports.
Russia’s military advance in Ukraine picked up speed in the spring – analysis
Reporters from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency have done some interesting analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which tracks battlefield developments in the conflict. Here is what AFP’s analysis found:
The Russian army took 507 square kilometres in May 2025, against 379 square kilometres in April and 240 square kilometres in March.
In May 2025, the Russian advance was focused again on the eastern Donetsk region, which accounted for nearly 400 square kilometres. Ukrainian troops did not recapture any territory in May.
Over the past 12 months Russian troops have advanced in Ukraine, which has not managed to retake lost territory.
From June 2024 to May 2025 Russia gained a total of 5,107 square kilometres (less than one percent of Ukrainian territory before the war), while Ukrainian forces only regained 85 square kilometres.
At the end of May, Russia controlled either wholly or partially nearly 19 percent of Ukrainian territory before the war, including Crimea and THE Donbas.
Updated
German chancellor Friedrich Merz will push for a “fair ceasefire” in Ukraine during his first in-person meeting with Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, according to a German government spokesperson.
Merz, who was confirmed as chancellor after a shaky start last month, has promised to put staunch support of Ukraine at the heart of his government amid persistent concerns over US security commitments to Europe.
“The government’s objectives are clear and the chancellor will do everything in his power to lobby the US president for a fair ceasefire, including with the threat of sanctions,” the German spokesperson told reporters in Berlin on Monday.
Merz is aware of a push for tougher sanctions against Russia by US senator Lindsey Graham but would not interfere in US domestic politics, the spokesperson added.
For context: Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, has said the legislation, which had 82 cosponsors, would impose “bone-breaking sanctions” on Russia and its customers.
To become law, the measure must pass the Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by Trump, who has recently expressed anger towards Vladimir Putin over Russia’s heavy missile and drone attacks on Ukraine during ceasefire negotiations.
Updated
Ruth Michaelson is reporting from Istanbul and will be providing updates on the talks. Here is some colour from outside Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace:
A fleet of black sedans arrived outside the Çırağan Palace in Istanbul, signalling the arrival of some of the negotiations teams.
A team of diplomats in suits emerged from the Russian delegation, their Ukrainian counterparts are expected to arrive wearing military fatigues.
Given the difficulties of understanding the finer points of events inside the palace from the media pen in its grounds, Russia’s Radio Mayak took to sharing video of a Turkish diplomat freshening up with a spritz of perfume next to the boot of his car, before entering the palace.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said that deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya “met with representatives of Ukraine’s European partners, Germany, Italy, and the UK,” prior to the talks expected to begin soon.
In Istanbul, First Deputy Foreign Minister @SergiyKyslytsya and Ukrainian delegation member Oleksandr Bevz met with representatives of Ukraine's European partners, Germany, Italy, and the UK.
— Heorhii Tykhyi (@SpoxUkraineMFA) June 2, 2025
The sides coordinated positions ahead of today's meeting between Ukrainian and Russian… pic.twitter.com/OsqJNDnMFI
Updated
There are more reports of Russian attacks hitting Ukraine (see post at 08.49 for more examples).
Two ballistic missiles struck a residential neighborhood in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv this morning, including one that hit near a school, the city’s mayor said.
One missile landed near an apartment building, while the second struck a road near the school, according to Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Ukraine delegation meets European officials ahead of Russia talks
Ukrainian officials in Istanbul have met with representatives from Germany, Italy and the UK ahead of talks later today with Russian delegates, Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said:
The sides coordinated positions ahead of today’s meeting between Ukrainian and Russian delegations. Members of the Ukrainian delegation reiterated Ukraine’s commitment to peace efforts.
The talks, scheduled to start around 13:00 local time (11:00 BST), will be chaired by Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan. Officials from Kyiv and Moscow are expected to exchange plans on how they want the war to end.
Updated
When Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, he demanded that Ukraine renounce joining Nato, sharply cut its army, and “protect” Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.
He since has also demanded that Kyiv withdraw its forces from the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully occupied — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected Russia’s demands for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from these regions.
The Ukrainian leader wants “security guarantees” for Ukraine to stop Russia invading again. This would ideally be from the US but the Trump administration, which sees the conflict as something outside of its national interest and a huge drain on resources, has not given any firm security guarantees to Ukraine.
Instead, Kyiv is pushing for some other form of western military commitment that would deter Moscow.
Britain and France are leading discussions about a possible European troop deployment to enforce any ceasefire. Moscow, however, has said it would not accept troops from Nato countries being deployed to Ukraine in any capacity.
It is therefore difficult to see a breakthrough in the negotiations happening anytime soon, as Putin has rejected Ukrainian and western calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Updated
What can we expect from the negotiations in Istanbul?
Ruth Michaelson is a Guardian journalist based in Istanbul
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are due to meet early this afternoon local time here in Istanbul, with talks today taking place in the aftermath of a major Ukrainian drone attack on Russian military bombers in Siberia yesterday.
The attack hit 40 warplanes over 2500 miles from Ukraine and caused an estimated £5.2bn in damage, according to Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency.
Heorhii Tykhyi, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, says their delegation, led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, has arrived in Istanbul ready for talks expected in the early afternoon.
Much to Ukraine’s displeasure during the previous round of talks here two and a half weeks ago, Moscow has again dispatched a negotiating team led by Vladimir Medinsky, an ideologue, aide to Vladimir Putin and former culture minister. Those talks produced the largest prisoner swap of the war so far, but little else.
Negotiations this time will be held at the Çırağan palace, another grand Ottoman palace on the shores of the Bosphorus, now in use as a five-star hotel.
The opulent location seems unlikely to help the expected outcome of today’s talks. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “doing everything it can to ensure the next possible meeting is fruitless”.
Ukraine has demanded Russia supply a memo prior to the meeting, outlining Moscow’s vision for an end to the war. Umerov posted on X last week to say that the Ukrainian side had drafted their version of this memo, and handed it over to the Russian delegation. The Russian side, however, “finally informed us they had finished drafting their “memorandum.” However, they continue to delay the delivery of the document,” he said.
In a social media post yesterday, Zelenskyy outlined Ukraine’s position ahead of the talks today. “First –- a full and unconditional ceasefire. Second –- the release of prisoners. Third -– the return of abducted children,” he said, reiterating a call for a discussion of a direct meeting between the Ukrainian president and Vladimir Putin.
“The key issues can only be resolved by the leaders,” he said. The Kremlin has said such a meeting is only possible after the negotiations come to wider “agreements”.
Zelenskyy told reporters last week that he is prepared for a meeting with US president Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin while urging further sanctions on Russia for Moscow’s reluctance to engage in talks.
Zelenskyy congratulates new Polish president on win, hopes for 'fruitful cooperation' with Warsaw
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he wants to work with Karol Nawrocki, who has just narrowly won Poland’s presidential election with 50.89% of the votes.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy wrote:
Poland, which preserves the strength of its national spirit and its faith in justice, has been and remains a pillar of regional and European security, and a strong voice defending freedom and dignity for every nation.
By reinforcing one another on our continent, we give greater strength to Europe in global competition and bring the achievement of real and lasting peace closer. I look forward to continued fruitful cooperation with Poland and with president Nawrocki personally.
Nawrocki, a right-wing a historian and former museum director, backs Poland continuing its staunch support for Kyiv, but has said he does not want to see Ukraine joining Nato and the EU during the war with Russia.
You can read more about Nawrocki’s dramatic victory in our Europe live blog.
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Ukraine and Russia both launched large-scale drone barrages overnight.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defence units had “intercepted and destroyed” 162 Ukrainian drones.
The majority were downed over regions bordering Ukraine, with 57 intercepted over the Kursk region and 31 over the Belgorod region, it said.
Ukraine said Russia had attacked its territory with 80 drones overnight and four missiles. It said the projectiles managed to strike 12 targets.
Russia launches deadly attacks across Ukraine before talks with Kyiv
Russia has also been launching attacks ahead of the second round of direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Turkey today.
Russian shelling and air attacks killed five people outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, while a drone attack on the northeast region of Sumy injured at least six people early on Monday, including two children, regional officials said.
Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, said three women were killed by Russian shelling targeting the village of Ternuvate, east of Zaporizhzhia yesterday evening.
A man died in a nearby district in a Russian strike by a guided aerial bomb, Fedorov added.
One person was killed in Russian attacks on Kostyantynivka, a town in the eastern industrial region of Donetsk, on Sunday, governor Vadym Filashkin wrote in a Telegram post earlier today.
In the Kherson region, three people were killed and at least 19 others were injured, including two children, governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported this morning in one of his regular updates on Telegram.
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Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, has said in a Telegram post that Ukraine destroyed at least 13 planes during the drone attack on Russian airbases yesterday, adding that other military planes were damaged.
As we reported in the opening post, Ukraine claimed to have hit struck more than 40 warplanes thousands of miles from its own territory, in what was one of the most audacious Ukrainian special operations since the outbreak of the war and a significant breach of Russia’s national defences.
Among the more than 40 aircraft reportedly hit were Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine delegation arrives in Istanbul for talks with Russian officials
A Ukrainian delegation has arrived in Istanbul for talks with Russian officials with a meeting planned for Monday afternoon, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
The two sides are set to hold their second round of direct peace talks since 2022, but are still far apart on how to end the war amid an increase in fighting.
After days of uncertainty over whether Ukraine would even attend, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said defence minister Rustem Umerov would meet Russian officials. The first round of the talks more than a week ago yielded the biggest prisoner exchange of the war – but no sense of any consensus on how to halt the fighting.
The two sides will in Turkey present their respective documents outlining their ideas for peace terms, according to US envoy Keith Kellogg, though it is clear that after three years of Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart.
Russia’s lead negotiator, presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, was quoted by Tass news agency as saying the Russian side had received a memorandum from Ukraine on a settlement. Zelenskyy had complained for days that Russia had failed to provide a memorandum with its proposals.
In other news:
Ukraine said on Sunday it had destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia, in its longest-range assault of the war. In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it had damaged $7bn worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres (miles) away, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke. A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) said the strikes hit 41 planes that were used to “bomb Ukrainian villages”.
Several Russian and Ukrainian media outlets reported that Ukraine had carried out the operation by launching drones from lorries parked near military airfields deep inside Russia. Ukrainian officials told the media that the operation – codename “Spiderweb” – had been in preparation for more than 18 months.
Zelenskyy praised the attacks as a “brilliant operation” that was “aimed exclusively at military targets” and caused “truly significant losses” for Russia. Those who assisted in the operation had been withdrawn from Russia on the eve of the attacks and were safe, he said. Russia has said several “participants” have been arrested.
Russian investigators on Sunday said they believed “explosions” had caused two bridges in the border regions of Kursk and Bryansk to collapse overnight, derailing trains, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens. The incidents were being treated as terrorism. In Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, a road bridge collapsed onto a railway line late on Saturday, derailing a passenger train heading to Moscow and killing at least seven people. A rail bridge in neighbouring Kursk also collapsed overnight, derailing a freight train and injuring the driver, officials said. Kursk also borders Ukraine. Separately, a railway track on the Unecha-Zhecha section in Russia’s Bryansk region was damaged without casualties, the national operator, Russian Railways, said.
The commander of Ukraine’s land forces, one of the most senior positions in the country’s military, announced on Sunday that he was tendering his resignation, saying he felt “responsibility” for the deaths of at least 12 soldiers killed in a Russian strike on a training ground earlier that day. Maj Gen Mykhailo Drapatyi has been in charge of Ukraine’s vast wartime land army since November last year. “This is a conscious step dictated by my personal sense of responsibility for the tragedy at the 239th training ground, which resulted in the deaths of our soldiers,” Drapatyi wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address, said he would summon senior commanders, including top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, to consider the circumstances of the strike. “This is not the first strike of its kind when Ukraine has lost personnel. I have called a meeting … to deal with this,” he said. “We need all our fighting men at the front to defend Ukraine.” Russia’s military issued a statement saying its forces had launched a missile on a Ukrainian military “tent camp” in central Dniepropetrovsk region.
