Russia and Ukraine conclude talks after Kyiv hits bombers

Henry Meyer and Olesia Safronova, Bloomberg News on Jun 2, 2025

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Russia and Ukraine wrapped up their latest direct peace talks in Istanbul a day after Kyiv staged one of its boldest aerial attacks inside Russia, destroying long-range bombers and other aircraft.

The negotiations concluded after lasting just over an hour, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian state media. The Ukrainian leader said the two sides exchanged documents through their Turkish hosts and were preparing for another exchange of prisoners.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov led his country’s delegation to the talks on Monday opposite Russia’s negotiators headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky. The meeting marks only the second time the two warring sides have held public negotiations since the early days of the conflict and follows a first round of talks in May.

Prospects for peace remain distant despite months of high-profile efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress. Moscow has so far resisted a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and has laid out maximalist demands to end its invasion, now in its fourth year. While Trump has threatened to impose more sanctions on Russia, he’s held off on taking that step.

“Our fundamental expectation is that the talks will be productive, that concrete progress will be made as soon as possible, and that the desired outcome will be achieved,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during opening remarks broadcast on TV. “We are ready to take any steps that will facilitate this process.”

Zelenskyy on Sunday said the delegation to Istanbul would raise issues including a full and unconditional ceasefire and release of prisoners. Ukraine submitted to Russia during Monday’s talks a list of abducted children whose return the country is seeking, a top aide to Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram.

“If Russia undermines even this initial agenda, and if the Istanbul meeting brings nothing, that clearly means strong, new sanctions are urgently, urgently needed,” Zelenskyy said during a summit in Vilnius on Monday.

Two members of the Ukrainian delegation met with representatives from the U.K., Germany and Italy ahead of the negotiations with Russia, the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv said on Monday.

The Ukrainian leader on Sunday revealed details of an attack that utilized drones hidden in trucks to hit strategic airfields.

Ukraine used 117 drones with people operating inside Russia across three time zones, he said on the X social media platform, adding that about a third of the strategic cruise missile carriers at the airfields were hit. He also said his country would use “active actions” and “diplomacy” to defend itself while demanding an immediate halt to fighting.

As a result of the operation, more than 40 Russian aircraft — including the Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 long-range bombers capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons as well as the A-50 — were damaged in the operation, Ukraine’s Security Service chief Vasyl Maliuk, who led the operation, said in a statement.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed in a statement on Telegram that attacks occurred at five military airbases across the nation from the Far East and eastern Siberia to locations just several hundred miles from Moscow, but said that only “a few aircraft units” were damaged at two military bases in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions. The pro-Moscow military blogger Rybar, which has about 1.3 million subscribers on Telegram, estimated that 13 aircraft were damaged and most were long-range bombers.

Some of Russia’s more advanced weapons are dependent on foreign components, such as cruise missiles, Tu-22 bombers, submarines and anti-aircraft radar, which means replacing the lost planes will be very difficult because of sanctions.

Also on Sunday, Moscow launched one of its longest-lasting drone and missile attacks against Kyiv with air sirens lasting for more than nine hours, escalating tensions ahead of the crucial peace talks. At least 12 people were killed in a strike on a military training center, prompting Ukraine Ground Forces Commander Mykhaylo Drapatyi to announce his decision to resign due to the casualties.

Over the weekend, Russia’s military also said it had taken control of several more settlements in Ukraine’s northeast Sumy region, after Moscow earlier said it would try to create what it calls a “buffer zone” inside the country.

The opening round of peace talks on May 16 — the first in more than three years — ended with a prisoner exchange agreement and discussions on a potential ceasefire. On Monday, the two countries are expected to outline their peace proposals.

The U.S. envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said the U.S., U.K., France and Germany would take part in the talks on the sidelines with the goal of narrowing the differences.

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—With assistance from Rachel Lavin, Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Patrick Sykes.