Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held a second round of direct peace talks in Turkey, although expectations for the summit were low, because they had achieved it by the end of just one hour later.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke at a summit of several NATO members in Vilnius, Lithuania on Monday, saying new prisoners of war were being prepared. Talks in Turkey two weeks ago resulted in the largest exchanges among prisoners since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with hundreds of people freeing from captivity.
Russian Presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky said both sides agreed to exchange 6,000 bodies killed in the operation.
Meanwhile, Ukraine handed over its official list of children to the list, which was forcibly deported and had to be returned.
The negotiations came after Ukraine’s surprise attack on four Russian air bases, thousands of kilometers apart and destroyed more than 40 fighter jets. The scope and geographical scope of the raid are unprecedented, with targeting bases over 7,000 kilometers from Ukraine in the Russian Arctic, Siberia and the Far East.
On the eve of the second round of peace talks, Ukraine launched the longest attack on Russia, using drones to target Russian fighters. Ukrainian authorities said they had planned for a year and a half.
Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Ukrainian security department who led the action plan, said its success was a “major strike from Russian military forces.” He said the drones attacked simultaneously in three time zones, and the complex logistics took a year and a half to prepare.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force clearly defended the air, Russia opened fire on the largest drone (472 total) in Ukraine on Sunday, with a total of 472 drones in Russia since the full invasion in February 2022. This is part of a recent strike campaign in civilian areas of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy pushes for more sanctions
Even if a summer offensive is underway on the battlefield, the Kremlin’s setbacks on Sunday will help force it to the negotiating table, Zelenskyy said.
“Russia has to feel the meaning of its losses. That’s what pushes it to diplomacy,” he said in Vilnius.
“If the Istanbul meeting doesn’t bring anything, it obviously means the urgent need, the urgent need for new sanctions,” Zelenskyy said, targeting Russia.
So far, efforts by U.S. leadership to bring both sides to a ceasefire have failed. Ukraine accepted a pause in the fight, but the Kremlin effectively rejected the fight.
Senior officials from both countries said that under the critical conditions of stopping the war, the two sides remain far apart. After less than two hours, the first round of negotiations in Istanbul on May 16 ended.
Over time, U.S. President Donald Trump’s position on the Russian-Ukrainian war and Putin has changed dramatically. Andrew Chang explores Trump’s recent criticism of Putin may indicate a shift in U.S. policy. Then, can a judge overturn Trump?
“Russia is trying to delay negotiations and extend the war to get additional battlefield gains,” the Washington-based think tank War Institute said on Sunday.
This ruthless battle thwarted the goal of U.S. President Donald Trump’s goal to quickly end the war.
A week ago, Trump expressed impatientness to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Moscow lashed out at Kief and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles for the third consecutive night.
“Difficult to underestimate” drone attack: analyst
Since the early days of the war, Ukraine has occasionally attacked the Air Force, attacking with Russian-capable strategic bomb attackers, prompting the Russian Air Force to redeploy most people to areas far away from the frontline.
Since Sunday’s drones were launched from trucks near five Russian regional bases, military defenses have little time to prepare for them.
Russia’s official response to Sunday’s attacks has been downplayed, with few reports of state-controlled television. Russia-1 TV Channel spent several minutes on Sunday night reading a brief defense ministry statement before images moved to Russian drone strikes on Ukrainian posts.
Many Russian military bloggers blame the army for failing to build protective shields for bombers, despite previous attacks, but the aircraft is large in size, which is a challenging task.
Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said the attacks were “a major blow to Russia’s strategic air force” and exposed the significant vulnerability of Moscow’s military capabilities.
“It’s hard to underestimate,” O’Brien wrote in the analysis.
Zhou Yixing exchange
Fierce battle continued along the front line of about 1,000 kilometers.
Regional officials said on Monday that Russian troops shelled the Hesen area in southern Ukraine, killing three people, including 19 of whom injured two children.
In addition, missile strikes and shelling around the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed five people and injured nine people, officials said.
Russia’s defense agency reduced its defense by 162 Ukrainian drones overnight and on the Crimea’s affiliated Ukrainian Peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday. Ukrainian air force said Ukrainian defense measures were damaged 52 of the 80 drones launched overnight by Russia.
