Istanbul Talks: Russia Proposes Brief Truces, As Another POW Swap Achieved

The only substantial thing to come from the Wednesday Russia-Ukraine talks – which is the third round of dialogue – is another sizeable prisoner swap, which Ukraine’s President Zelensky has confirmed.

He said a post on social media that Wednesday’s prisoner swap has resulted in more than 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners had been returned under the agreement. “For a thousand families, this means the joy of embracing their loved ones again,” Zelensky said.

He pointed out that many of the prisoners had been in captivity for more than three years. “It is important that the exchanges are ongoing and our people are coming home,” he said of the multi-phased exchange deal.

“We will continue doing everything possible to ensure that every one of our people returns from captivity.”

As for what was discussed at Wednesday’s meeting, Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, has told reporters: “Priority number one is to organize the meeting of the leaders, of presidents,” in comments after the talks.

Ukraine wants talks by the end of August also with Presidents Trump and Erdogan participating – but the Kremlin has been cold on this proposal, citing that no progress has been made in lower-level engagement thus far.

Moscow’s lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has said: “The positions are quite distant. We agreed to continue contacts.”

He said both countries agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners of war each and that Moscow offered to hand Kyiv the bodies of 3,000 killed soldiers.

“We once again proposed to the Ukrainian side… to establish short 24- to 48-hour ceasefires on the line of contact, so that medical teams are able to collect the wounded and so that commanders can come take the bodies of their soldiers,” he added.

However, Kiev has been pressing for a long-term truce, which Russia has rejected on fears that Ukraine’s military would just use a long pause to rearm and regroup along the front lines.

Putin’s office as of Tuesday had laid out that “Nobody expects an easy path. Naturally, it will be a very difficult conversation. [Ukraine’s and Russia’s peace proposals] are diametrically opposed to one another.”

.@proud_diplomat : Anyone who believes that Zelensky is really committed to accelerating moves towards peace in Ukraine may, I fear, be overly optimistic. https://t.co/nbOuFQjy39

— Responsible Statecraft (@RStatecraft) July 24, 2025

But there’s a Trump-imposed deadline looming, albeit it remains vague. Trump last week said that Russia has 50 days to reach an agreement to end the war or face more far-reaching sanctions.

The Kremlin has responded by calling the threat “misguided” as no one should expect a breakthrough and thus no timeline can be arbitrarily imposed on a peace deal, citing “many factors” which remain complex.