Istanbul: Delegations from Ukraine and Russia convened in Istanbul on Monday for their second round of direct peace negotiations in just over two weeks, though hopes remained low for any meaningful breakthrough to end the war now entering its third year. The talks followed a weekend of intense and unprecedented military activity, including a major Ukrainian drone assault on airbases deep inside Russian territory.
Ukrainian officials reported that Sunday’s surprise drone offensive destroyed more than 40 Russian warplanes stationed at military airfields across Russia’s Arctic, Siberian, and Far East regions—some located over 7,000 kilometres from Ukraine. The sophisticated operation, which simultaneously targeted sites across three time zones, had been in planning for more than 18 months, according to Vasyl Maliuk, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service, who called the operation “a major slap in the face for Russia’s military power.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the raid as a “brilliant operation” destined to be remembered in history.
In apparent retaliation, Russia on Sunday launched the highest number of drones—472—against Ukraine since the onset of its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine’s air force said the assault seemed intended to overwhelm its air defences, and it marked an escalation in Russia’s ongoing campaign against civilian infrastructure.
Despite the intensifying conflict, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted the peace talks at the historic Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, a former Ottoman residence. He emphasised the global focus on the meeting, noting that the discussions aimed to explore each side’s terms for a ceasefire. However, the gap between the two parties remained wide.
Efforts led by the United States to broker a ceasefire have thus far faltered. Ukraine had signalled readiness to consider such a measure, but Russia has continued to resist. Ukraine’s delegation in Istanbul was led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, while Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, headed the Russian side. Delegates from both nations, numbering over a dozen each, faced each other across a U-shaped table with Turkish officials seated between them. Several Ukrainian representatives arrived in military uniforms.
Statements by senior officials from both nations in recent days have indicated deep disagreement on key terms for peace. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, suggested on Sunday that Russia was intentionally stalling negotiations in hopes of gaining further ground on the battlefield.
The ongoing hostilities have complicated U.S. President Donald Trump's ambition to bring the war to a swift conclusion. Just a week earlier, Trump publicly expressed frustration with President Putin after several nights of sustained Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. On social media, Trump declared that Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY!”
A previous round of direct negotiations held on 16 May in Istanbul ended in under two hours, with no significant progress apart from an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange.
Ukraine, meanwhile, appeared emboldened by the success of its long-range drone attacks. The Russian response to the strikes was notably muted in official media. State-controlled Russia-1 television devoted just over a minute to the news, merely reading a Defence Ministry statement before switching focus to Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian positions.
President Zelenskyy argued that Russia’s military losses would pressure Moscow towards serious negotiations. Speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, during a meeting with leaders from NATO’s eastern flank and the Nordic region, he stated, “Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy.”
Ukraine has intermittently targeted Russian airbases that host strategic bombers since the early stages of the war. These actions have forced Moscow to relocate most of its fleet to more distant regions. Sunday’s drone launches were reportedly conducted from trucks positioned near the targeted bases in five Russian regions, giving Russian air defences almost no time to react.
Russian military bloggers have criticised the lack of protective infrastructure for the bombers, though experts note that the aircraft’s large size makes them difficult to shield. Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, described the Ukrainian attacks as a major blow to Russia’s strategic airpower and a clear exposure of its military vulnerabilities. Edward Lucas, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, went further, calling it “the most audacious attack of the war” and a “military and strategic game-changer.” He noted that Ukraine, despite being outnumbered and worn down by conflict, had managed to strike Russia’s most valuable aircraft “at minimal cost, in complete secrecy, and over vast distances.”
On the ground, fighting along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line continued unabated. Zelenskyy warned that if the Istanbul meeting failed to deliver results, “strong new sanctions are urgently, urgently needed” against Russia. Meanwhile, global markets reacted to the war’s volatility. Asian share prices fell sharply on Monday, and oil prices surged due to growing concerns about the conflict and related trade disruptions.
Civilian areas in Ukraine remained under heavy assault. Russian shelling of the Kherson region on Monday killed three people and injured 19, including two children, according to local officials. Around the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a missile attack and further shelling resulted in five fatalities and nine injuries.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 162 Ukrainian drones overnight across eight regions, including over the annexed Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized illegally in 2014. In response, Ukraine’s air force reported it had intercepted 52 out of 80 drones launched by Russia during the same night.
With PTI inputs