Russia sets out punitive terms at peace talks with Ukraine

Russia told Ukraine at peace talks on Monday that it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army, according to a memorandum reported by Russian media.The terms, formally presented at negotiations in Istanbul, highlighted Moscow’s refusal to compromise on its longstanding war goals despite calls by US President Donald Trump to end the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.Ukraine has repeatedly rejected the Russian conditions as tantamount to surrender.Delegations from the warring sides met for barely an hour, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022.They agreed to exchange more prisoners of war – focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded – and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky for a meeting in Turkey with Trump.But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept.Moscow says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Kyiv says Putin is not interested in peace.

Trump has said the United States is ready to walk away from its mediation efforts unless the two sides demonstrate progress towards a deal.Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv’s delegation, said Kyiv – which has drawn up its own peace roadmap – would review the Russian document, on which he offered no immediate comment.Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes only a meeting between Zelensky and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said.Zelensky said Ukraine presented a list of 400 children it says have been abducted to Russia, but that the Russian delegation agreed to work on returning only 10 of them.Russia says the children were moved from war zones to protect the...