Diplomatic Meetings Emerge Between Ukraine and Russia Following Intense Increase in Conflict Over the Weekend
June 2, 2025 Update – 3:36 PM CDT
Istanbul – Moscow – KyivUkrainian and Russian officials huddled in Istanbul on Monday, following a weekend of high stakes, with Ukraine striking deep into Russian territory and Russia retaliating with massive drone attacks on Ukrainian targets.
Expectations for peace talks were dim, but Kyiv and Moscow vowed to submit their proposed deals for future harmony. Alas, these negotiations were fraught with tension over submission deadlines and a general lack of substantial progress.
The sole concrete achievement of the meeting was an agreement to expand prisoner swaps.
On Sunday, Ukraine implemented a daring drone assault on Russian air bases, orchestrated to impact the peace negotiations. Ukrainian drones infiltrated the Russian heartland, targeting bomber jets in installations as far-flung as Murmansk in the Arctic north and Irkutsk in Siberia – a whopping 2,700 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine Security Service liaised with smugglers to put drones loaded with explosives on trucks and smuggle them across the border. These covert mongrels took off from hidden cabins on the trucks and demolished their targets.
Ukrainian officials dubbed the operation 'Operation Trojan Trucks' on social media, boasting about the strategic losses and significant blow to Russian morale. Vasyl Malyuk, head of the Security Service, explained the operation as an act of retaliation for the relentless bombings of Ukraine by these aircraft.
Russia acknowledged the attacks but downplayed their impact, claiming minimal aircraft damage. Despite the opposing narratives, it was impossible to verify either side's claims.
The drones were far from the only drama unfolding in the region over the weekend. At least seven passengers perished, and more than a hundred were injured in Bryansk, Russia, following a bridge collapse on a passenger train. Debris and trucks rained down on train compartments as the train tumbled off the bridge. At the same time, a separate railway bridge collapsed in neighboring Kursk, causing a freight train derailment and staff injuries.
Russia's Investigative Committee opened a terrorism probe into both incidents, but it later ruled out planted explosives as the cause of either bridge collapse. Various pro-Kremlin politicians were quick to pin the blame on Ukraine, claiming it as justification for continued war efforts.
In the occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's military intelligence confirmed a hit on a Russian military train carrying supplies.
Amid these escalating tensions, both sides reconvened in Istanbul the following day for round two of direct negotiations, marking the first such talks in three years, largely due to pressure from the Trump administration.
Ukraine's lead negotiator, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, emphasized prioritizing prisoner swaps focusing on the sick, wounded, and young detainees under 25, as well as the exchange of fallen soldiers' remains.
Kremlin aide and chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky pledged to return the remains of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers, in addition to receiving the corpses of any Russian soldiers Ukraine may be holding.
An unexpected moment in the talks came when Medinsky proposed intermittent, localized ceasefires as 'sanitation measures' along the front lines, specifically designed to collect fallen soldiers during the heat of the summer.
Trump has advocated for these direct conversations and has emphasized their importance in maintaining U.S. involvement in the Ukraine conflict. Though he has threatened to impose more sanctions on Russia, he also believes Ukraine cannot realistically win militarily and encourages concessions.
Despite Russia allegedly dictating the terms of negotiations, political experts in Moscow believe Ukraine's surprise drone operation may have shaken things up in favor of Kyiv.
Russian military blogger, Georgi Bovt, commented upon the talks, "Ukraine's delegation arrives in Istanbul without feeling like the losing side of the war."
Bovt recalled Trump once telling Zelenskyy that Ukraine doesn't possess the necessary negotiating cards for a favorable resolution. "It appears they found them," Bovt added.
NPR producers Hanna Palamarenko and Georgi Bovt contributed to this report from Kyiv.
Copyright 2025 NPR
- The negotiations in Istanbul, following Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian targets, also included discussions about technology and politics, as both parties aimed to submit their proposals for future harmony.
- Amidst the backdrop of war-and-conflicts, general-news outlets reported on the latest developments in these peace talks, including discussions about technology, politics, and war-and-conflicts, as well as news of tragic incidents like the bridge collapses in Bryansk and Kursk.
