Zelenskyy warns Putin must not be rewarded for aggression as Istanbul peace talks end – Russia-Ukraine war live | Ukraine

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.

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.

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausea 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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Turkey’s government has issued handout photos from Istanbul of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations that are meeting now for direct talks.

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.

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.

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.