June 3, 2025
The second round of the direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations that have been held again in Istanbul on June 2nd 2025 lasted for 1 hour and 4 minutes. Both delegations managed to resolve only humanitarian issues, and have exchanged their respective political memoranda on ending the hostilities.
Humanitarian issues once again
Russia and Ukraine once again have agreed on their largest prisoner exchange to date. Moscow will return to Ukraine the bodies of 6,000 its soldiers and officers who have been killed in action (KIA), and have been kept in Russia in refrigerators. Ukraine has not disclosed any information about how many Russian GIs it would be ready to hand over. Moscow does not know this figure.
Additionally, all POWs under 25, and soldiers having serious wounds or sickness will be exchanged on the principle ‘all for all’.
Moscow has proposed a temporary ceasefire for two to three days in several parts of the frontline to facilitate the collection of soldiers’ bodies and prevent potential outbreaks of disease in a summer time. Though the Ukrainian side has promised to review the proposal on short notice, the off-hand reaction of the former Ukrainian president to it was rather rude.
Russia and Ukraine also have agreed to establish medical commissions to help create exchange lists for severely injured soldiers without the need to wait for high-level political decisions, but bringing about the swaps regularly in a routine, simplified manner.
Russia demanded Ukraine stop false ‘child kidnapping’ claims
The two teams agreed that all children evacuated from combat zones are to be reunited with their families as soon as their parents or relatives are identified. Russia reminded that it has returned a total of 101 children to Ukraine since the escalation of the second phase of the Ukrainian aggression in February 2022. So far, the Ukrainian side handed over 22 children to Russia.
The reunification of children with their families is a matter of honor for Russia, the head of Moscow’s delegation and a presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky commented on Kiev’s demands to return Ukrainian minors that have allegedly been ‘abducted’ by Russia.
Figures voiced by Ukraine at various international platforms, including the UNO and the OSCE, have nothing to do with reality, top Kremlin negotiator announced, adding that his team received a list of names of children Kiev wants to be returned. Russia denied the rumors that it has kidnapped 1.5 million or 200,000 or 20,000 Ukrainian kids. Ukrainian delegation has handed over to the Russian negotiators the list containing only 339 such names.
This list shows, unfortunately, that the Ukrainian authorities have intentionally staged a show, Medinsky outlined. “In reality, we are talking about dozens of children – none of whom were abducted. Not a single one. These are children saved by our soldiers, at the risk of their own lives, pulled from combat zones and evacuated.” Russia is looking for their parents, and when their parents are found, it will return these children, he added. In his words, “This shameful PR campaign must be stopped.”
Comparing two submitted memoranda
Russia handed over to the Ukrainian side its memorandum at the talks in Istanbul, which consists of three parts. Ukrainian delegation promised to study it in a week. It looks like that these two drafts will be tackled at the third round of talks between Kiev and Moscow to be set up later.
The first part of the Russian draft is how to achieve real long-term peace settlement. The second section describes what steps should be taken to make a full-fledged ceasefire possible. The third portion sets out the sequence of some practical steps and the timing of their implementation.
The main provisions of the memorandum are: international legal recognition of the entry of Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions (Oblasts) into Russia; proclamation of Ukraine’s neutrality, its refusal to join military alliances; a ban on military activities of other states in Ukraine; nuclear-free status of Ukraine (no transit, no deployment); setting the maximum number of AFU; stopping foreign military aid to Kiev; Kiev’s refusal of making of sabotage acts against Russia; lifting of economic sanctions imposed against Russia; ensuring the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population; prohibiting the glorification of Nazism and neo-Nazism; phased restoration of diplomatic and economic relations with Ukraine; mutual waiver of claims in connection with damage inflicted from military operations; addressing issues related to family reunification and displaced persons; presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine no later than 100 days after the lifting of martial law.
The current Russian memorandum also emphasizes that the peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine must be approved by a “legally binding resolution of the UN Security Council.” Only after that, the ratification, entry into force and implementation of the peace treaty is expected.
Ukrainian draft memorandum has not specified any consent with all these provisions. A reminder: during the 2022 negotiations with Russia Ukraine agreed with its neutrality and non-nuclear status formulated in the accord initialed by the heads of the two delegations, but not accepted by Zelensky at all.
What are the next steps?
The Ukrainian delegation has suggested holding the next direct meeting with Russian negotiators before the end of June (somewhere between June 20th and 30th), Rustem Umerov, Ukrainian Defense Minister has told newsmen after the talks.
Moscow has not commented on the exact dates of the third round. But no doubt, it will attend it and other meetings if they are needed.
It is clear that Kiev still wishes to join the transatlantic Alliance. The upcoming NATO Summit should express its clear-cut statement on this issue by stating that the former states of the Soviet Union, including Georgia and Ukraine, must retain their neutral, non-aligned status for the sake of maintaining equal and stable security in Europe. Unfortunately, NATO chieftains are still in favor of admitting Ukraine into its ranks somewhere in the future. There are even voices to help Ukrainian junta to recreate nuclear weapons that Ukraine possessed in the framework of the USSR or to share with it Western nuclear capabilities and their means of delivery.
The stumbling block at the future talks between Kiev and Moscow is a multifaceted gimmick.
On one hand, the West (the EU and NATO) is too critical to Russia blaming it for everything it has not done.
But on the other, the West is very candid with Ukraine: it incites Zelensky to continue fighting, generously stockpiles him with deadly weapons, intelligence and military experts/operators. The Western nations have hammered out nearly 30,000 different sectoral and individual sanctions against Russia, but they have not invented at least a single modest sanction versus Ukraine – de facto and de jure aggressor and terrorist state in Europe.
The West is lusting for a continuation of an all-out aggression against Russians living in Ukraine and against Russia as a whole. Soon after the second stage of the Russo-Ukrainian talks has ended in Istanbul, Zelensky publicly articulated his master plan to flare up war-mongerism in Europe.
If NATO and the EU do not reconsider their deadlocked strategy aimed at encouraging the barbaric aggressor, the war in that part of the world will go on endlessly despite many rounds of polite negotiations.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
