Ukraine and Russia finally hold direct talks after false start

At Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace on Friday, as Russia and Ukraine sat down to hold their first direct peace talks since the early months of this three-year war.

ISTANBUL — A diplomatic frenzy consumed Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace on Friday, as Russia and Ukraine sat down to hold their first direct peace talks since the early months of this three-year war.

Despite the flurry of activity from Russian, Ukrainian, American, British, French and German diplomats, the negotiations lasted barely two hours and did not appear to bring the sides closer together. There was one point of agreement — a deal to swap 1,000 prisoners each, the head of Russia’s delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said. It would be the largest swap since the start of the war.

With Russia still issuing demands that resemble an outright Ukrainian surrender, some observers see these talks as largely an attempt by both Moscow and Kyiv to pursuade President Donald Trump they are not the obstacle to peace.

Before they even began, President Donald Trump predicted there would be no progress unless he and Russian President Vladimir Putin were involved.

“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Trump said of his Russian counterpart while speaking with journalists late Thursday aboard Air Force One en route to Abu Dhabi. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”