International Desk

As diplomatic efforts to end the grinding, three-year war between Russia and Ukraine gather momentum, both sides remain locked in a tense standoff over preconditions for a second round of peace talks scheduled for June 2 in Istanbul. The Kremlin has extended an invitation to Ukraine to attend the negotiations, where it plans to present a so-called “memorandum” outlining its terms for a long-term settlement. But Kyiv has responded cautiously, demanding to see the document in advance – a condition that Moscow has dismissed as “non-constructive.”

On May 29, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russia had not yet received a formal response from Ukraine regarding its attendance at the talks. “As far as I know, no response has been received yet… we need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” he told reporters. Peskov criticized Ukraine’s insistence on reviewing the memorandum beforehand, suggesting that such a demand undermines the spirit of dialogue.

Ukraine, however, remains adamant. Officials in Kyiv say they will not engage in talks blindly and want Russia to share its proposed terms publicly before any meaningful dialogue can take place. “The Russians’ fear of sending their memorandum to Ukraine suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums,” said Georgiy Tykhy, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

The stalemate over preconditions casts a shadow over what was hoped to be a breakthrough in diplomatic engagement after both sides met for the first time in over three years on May 16, also in Istanbul. While those talks failed to produce a concrete peace plan, they did result in a significant prisoner exchange – with 1,000 prisoners traded by each side, marking the largest swap since the war began in February 2022.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has urged both parties not to “shut the door” on dialogue. His foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week in Moscow, was scheduled to visit Kyiv on May 29 for a follow-up meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an attempt to salvage the peace process.

But the atmosphere remains tense on the ground. While talks of peace continue, so does the bloodshed. Overnight on May 28-29, Russia launched a massive drone attack across Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials reporting 90 drones fired. At least five civilians were killed in the attacks, which targeted regions ranging from Kherson in the south to Sumy in the northeast.

Among the casualties were two civilians in Kherson killed by drone strikes, a farm worker in Mykolaiv struck by a ballistic missile, a civilian in Donetsk killed by shelling, and a 68-year-old man in Sumy whose home was destroyed in a drone attack. The widespread nature of the strikes underscored Kyiv’s accusation that Moscow is deliberately escalating its military offensive while pretending to engage in negotiations.

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Zelensky, in a statement on May 29, accused Russia of massing more than 50,000 troops around Sumy, an area where Russian forces have recently captured several settlements. Moscow’s stated goal, according to President Putin, is to create a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory – a move widely condemned by Kyiv as an attempted land grab under the guise of security.

Meanwhile, Russia’s military claimed to have captured three villages in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and to have repelled 48 Ukrainian drones, including three over the Moscow region. These announcements signal that the Kremlin continues to press its military advantage on the battlefield, even as it attempts to dictate the terms of peace.

In a potentially significant development, a retired Russian commander who previously led air strikes on Mariupol – a city devastated in the early months of the war – was killed in an explosion on May 29 in the southern Russian city of Stavropol. Authorities have not ruled out Ukrainian involvement, raising concerns that Kyiv may be shifting toward more aggressive operations inside Russian territory.

International pressure is mounting for a breakthrough. US President Donald Trump, who has recently taken a more hands-on approach in pushing for a negotiated end to the war, expressed frustration with Russia’s apparent stalling. “I am very disappointed at Russia’s deadly bombardment during the negotiating process,” Trump said on May 28. However, he dismissed calls for additional sanctions against Moscow and stated he would assess within “about two weeks” whether Putin was serious about reaching a peace agreement.

Despite Trump’s efforts, US policy toward the conflict has remained cautious, with the administration wary of alienating allies in NATO and the European Union. Analysts say that any meaningful progress will require not only a reduction in hostilities on the ground but also a willingness by both sides to compromise on deeply entrenched positions.

Russia continues to insist that Ukraine must abandon its NATO aspirations and formally cede control of territories currently occupied by Russian forces – demands that Kyiv has flatly rejected as unacceptable. Ukraine, for its part, insists on the restoration of its 1991 borders and accountability for war crimes committed by Russian forces.

As the scheduled June 2 meeting in Istanbul looms, the diplomatic deadlock appears as intractable as ever. With battlefield violence intensifying and mutual distrust running high, the prospects for a ceasefire or comprehensive settlement remain uncertain. Unless either side budges on its preconditions, the Istanbul talks – if they occur – risk becoming another missed opportunity in a war that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and devastated large swathes of Ukraine.