"We are ready to fight forever, and you?"

Ukraine and Russia talked directly for the first time in three years. That's how it was

Ramil Sitdikov / RIA Novosti / Sputnik / Profimedia members of the Russian delegation at negotiations in Istanbul. The second on the right is the head of the delegation, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky. May 16, 2025

Direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were held in Istanbul - the first since March 2022 . The negotiators met in the Presidential Palace Dolmabakhche. The first round of discussions lasted two hours. According to RBC-Ukraine, today negotiations will no longer resume. According to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, the parties will continue to speak after everyone prescribes his vision of a possible ceasefire. There is no new meeting dates yet.

According to the journalist The Economist Oliver Carroll, Medinsky in the negotiations said that Russia was "ready to fight forever." “We do not want war, but we are ready to fight for another year, two, three - as much as it will be required. We fought with Sweden 21 years old. How much are you ready to fight? " - asked the head of the delegation of the Russian Federation from the Ukrainians. Medinsky also said that Peter I fought with the Swedes with the money of England and France and that "Sweden would be a great power today, if it were not for this [Northern War]."

Oliver Carroll said that Russia threatened Ukraine with the capture of the Sumy and Kharkov regions , and also demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of four annexed regions. The fact that the Russians threatened to capture the Sumy region was written by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Alexei Goncharenko; The source of the publication "Supilna" said that Russia also demanded to recognize the annexation of Crimea. According to Bloomberg, representatives of the Russian Federation also demanded that Ukraine take neutral status, there were no foreign troops and weapons of mass destruction on its territory, and Kiev should abandon military reparations by Moscow. From a 30-day ceasefire, the Russian delegation, according to Goncharenko, refused.

Meduza

The parties officially reported that they had agreed on the exchange of prisoners according to the formula 1000 per 1000 . If it really takes place, it will become the largest since the beginning of the war. The date of exchange is still unknown; Medinsky said that he should wait in the coming days. He also said that Ukraine requested direct negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky. “We accepted this request for note,” Medinsky added.

At the press conference of the Ukrainian side after negotiations, the speaker of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine Georgy Tikhiy confirmed the media reports that the Russian delegation voiced a number of “unacceptable things”.

Vladimir Zelensky urged to introduce “strong sanctions” against Russia in case of its rejection of an unconditional ceasefire. The Ukrainian president today in Albania together with the leaders of European countries. They called up with US President Donald Trump. He has not yet commented on the negotiations of Russia and Ukraine, Putin too. British Prime Minister Cyrus Starmer called the position of Moscow "unacceptable"; The leaders of the European Union countries expressed disappointment of negotiations.

Putin proposed direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul . Zelensky replied that he was ready to meet him personally, although he had previously rejected the idea of negotiations before a 30-day ceasefire. Trump admitted that he will also be in Istanbul - and that Russia would agree to cease fire. But Putin in the end did not go to Turkey (like Trump), he did not respond to the call to stop hostilities. According to analysts, the composition of the Russian delegation and its maximalist demands indicate that Putin did not refuse the initial plans to completely subordinate Ukraine.