by Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Staff
ISTANBUL (Worthy News) – Russian and Ukrainian delegations held a short-lived round of cease-fire negotiations in Istanbul on Monday, less than 24 hours after a sweeping Ukrainian drone assault targeted multiple Russian airbases, destroying or damaging over 40 military aircraft, including strategic bombers.
The meeting, hosted at Ciragan Palace and facilitated by senior Turkish officials, marked only the second face-to-face negotiation between the warring sides in the past three years. Despite the high stakes, the talks lasted just one hour and yielded no immediate breakthroughs. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not attend the session.
Photos from the event revealed a stark contrast between the delegations: Ukrainian negotiators arrived in military uniforms, while their Russian counterparts wore business suits. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov led Kyiv’s team, while Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky headed the Russian side.
Umerov confirmed that Ukraine presented a list of deported Ukrainian children it seeks returned and expressed hope for a new prisoner exchange. Zelenskyy later announced that both sides were preparing for another round of swaps, following a prior exchange of 1,000 prisoners per side in May.
However, Umerov voiced frustration with Russia’s lack of preparation, saying Ukraine submitted its cease-fire conditions days earlier but received no reply from Moscow until the morning of the talks. “We are insisting on a full and unconditional end to the killing now,” he said.
The drone strikes that preceded the meeting are among Ukraine’s most ambitious to date, hitting five Russian airbases across multiple time zones. Ukrainian officials say the operation, which took a year to plan, used commercial drones smuggled in trucks to infiltrate deep into Russian territory. Aircraft destroyed reportedly included A-50 early warning planes and Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers–key platforms in Russia’s strategic arsenal.
Zelenskyy, speaking Monday, said Russia would only come to the table seriously when it suffers enough losses. “Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy,” he said.
Russia responded with a massive drone barrage of its own, launching 472 drones across Ukraine, reportedly targeting both military and civilian sites. Explosions were also reported over the weekend at two key bridges in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions, adding to the tension.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic process remains shaky. The United States, under President Donald Trump, has called for an immediate cease-fire as a condition for further peace efforts. Zelenskyy has agreed to those terms, but Putin has yet to do so, instead offering shifting demands–including that Ukraine cede four eastern regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, which Russia has failed to fully capture.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned last month that Washington may pull back from brokering peace if either side shows unwillingness to negotiate in good faith. “Putin is asking for too much,” he said, adding that continued obstruction could trigger additional U.S. sanctions against Moscow.
Despite Monday’s inconclusive talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed cautious optimism, saying, “The eyes of the whole world are focused on the contacts here.” Kyiv has said it will take a week to review Moscow’s positions before responding.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have delivered a trove of documents to Congress detailing donation patterns to the Clinton Foundation from foreign and domestic entities, reigniting scrutiny over whether critical evidence was withheld from federal investigators who sought to examine pay-to-play allegations a decade ago.
A war of words erupted between Turkey and Israel this week as plans advanced for an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza under President Donald Trump’s U.S.-brokered peace plan — a force intended to oversee the fragile ceasefire, disarm Hamas, and restore stability to the war-torn enclave.
President Donald Trump on Monday issued a stark warning to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the justices have been given “the wrong numbers” in a pending case that challenges his authority to impose tariffs under emergency powers — a decision he warned could trigger a $3 trillion economic collapse and endanger America’s national security.
After a grueling overnight session stretching into the early hours of Tuesday morning, the House Rules Committee voted 8–4 along party lines to advance a bill aimed at ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — now entering its 42nd day. The measure, supported by all Republicans on the panel, moves next to the full House for a vote Wednesday, where GOP leaders are confident it will pass.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France will assist the Palestinian Authority (PA) in drafting a constitution for a future Palestinian state, following a meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the Élysée Palace. The move comes as part of France’s broader push to promote a two-state solution after recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September.
Venezuela has launched a massive two-day military mobilization involving nearly 200,000 troops as the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, arrived in Latin American waters Tuesday, significantly escalating regional military tensions.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “deeply saddened” after a Turkish military cargo plane carrying 20 personnel crashed Tuesday in Georgia, near the border with Azerbaijan, and officials feared there were no survivors.