The Latest Breaking News on Week of geopolitical poker over Ukraine ends with no endgame in sight

The Prime Minister, Volodymyr Zelensky, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Donald Tusk held a phone call with the US president.

Apart from agreeing to swap 1,000 prisoners each, Moscow sticks to maximalist demands in Istanbul

The first direct talks on halting Russia's war on Ukraine in more than three years started on Friday in Istanbul, with low expectations the two sides will agree to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

The summit comes as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators meet face-to-face for the first time in Istanbul.

The Russian president earlier proposed direct talks with Ukraine but then rejected speaking to Volodymyr Zelensky face-to-face and stayed away from a meeting in Istanbul

Ukraine and Russia meet in Istanbul for ceasefire talks, with Zelenskyy urging Putin to engage directly. Kyiv's top priority is a 30-day ceasefire and peace efforts.

There is one topic on which Kyiv and Moscow will never agree, and yet, for both sides, this point is of the utmost importance — Crimea. Olha Kuryshko, the Ukrainian president’s permanent representative in Crimea, told Euronews that Russia implemented its 2014 techniques on all occupied territories.

Rustem Umerov, who heads Ukraine's delegation at peace talks with Russia on Friday, is a skilled and pragmatic negotiator, hailed by his colleagues as a worker of diplomatic "wonders".

Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv will be in Istanbul Friday for what could be their first direct meeting on the conflict in Ukraine since 2022, but the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves little hope for progress in ending the war.