Russian and Ukrainian delegates met in Istanbul on Monday for their second set of direct peace talks, a day after Kyiv launched a shock drone attack on Russia\u2019s nuclear-capable bombers, in an operation that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a year and a half in the making. <\/p>\n
After the initial round of discussions in the Turkish city last month \u2013 the first between the warring countries since soon after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in early 2022 \u2013 both sides agreed to share their conditions for a full ceasefire and a potentially lasting peace. Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine had presented Moscow with its \u201clogical and realistic\u201d demands, but said Russia had not yet shared its memorandum. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have it,\u201d Zelensky said. \u201cThe Turkish side doesn\u2019t have it, and the American side doesn\u2019t have the Russian document either. Despite this, we will attempt to achieve at least some progress on the path toward peace.\u201d <\/p>\n
It is not yet clear if Ukraine\u2019s daring Sunday air raid will streamline that path or make it more thorny. Kyiv has long sought to impress upon the Kremlin that there are costs to prolonging its campaign, but some analysts have warned that the operation \u2013 which struck Russian airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine\u2019s borders \u2013 will only replenish Moscow\u2019s resolve. <\/p>\n
The mission, codenamed \u201cSpiderweb,\u201d was one of the most significant blows that Ukraine has landed against Russia in more than three years of full-scale war. Ukraine\u2019s security service, the SBU, said it had smuggled the drones into Russia, hiding them in wooden mobile homes latched onto trucks. The roofs were then remotely opened, and the drones deployed to launch their strikes on four Russian airfields across the vast country. <\/p>\n
Vasul Malyuk, the head of the SBU, said the attack caused an estimated $7 billion in damage and had struck 34% of Russia\u2019s strategic cruise missile carriers \u2013 a total of 41 aircraft. These targets were \u201ccompletely legitimate,\u201d Malyuk said, stressing that Russia had used the planes throughout the conflict to pummel Ukraine\u2019s \u201cpeaceful cities.\u201d <\/p>\n
The operation has provided a much-needed boost to morale in Ukraine, which has come under fierce Russian bombardment since peace talks began in mid-May, and is bracing for an expected summer offensive. Moscow launched a record 472 drones at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, only hours before the Ukrainian attack, according to Ukrainian officials. <\/p>\n
At a summit in Lithuania on Monday, an upbeat Zelensky said the operation proved that Ukraine has \u201cstronger tactical solutions\u201d than Russia. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a special moment \u2013 on the one hand, Russia has launched its summer offensive, but on the other hand, they are being forced to engage in diplomacy,\u201d Zelensky said. <\/p>\n
The talks in Istanbul are a test of how genuine that engagement is. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed holding \u201cdirect talks\u201d with Ukraine in Turkey, but didn\u2019t show up, despite Zelensky agreeing to meet. In the end, Moscow sent a low-level delegation to negotiate instead. <\/p>\n
In the latest sign of his frustration that the war he pledged to end in a day is showing little sign of stopping, US President Donald Trump said last week that Putin had gone \u201cabsolutely crazy,\u201d after Moscow launched the largest aerial attack of the war. <\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly told Russia and Ukraine there will be consequences if they don\u2019t engage in his peace process, although he has so far resisted growing calls from lawmakers in his Republican Party to use sanctions to pressure Putin into winding down his war. <\/p>\n
Speaking in Lithuania, Zelensky said that if Monday\u2019s meeting \u201cbrings nothing, that clearly means strong new sanctions are urgently, urgently needed.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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