Delegations from Ukraine and Russia ended their second round of cease-fire negotiations in Turkey after just an hour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the two sides were preparing for a new prisoner swap, and the Ukrainian delegation delivered a list of deported Ukrainian children to Russia that Kyiv wants returned home.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said before the talks began that the aim of the June 2 meeting, the second of its kind, was to evaluate the two sides’ conditions for a cease-fire, to facilitate more prisoner exchanges, and to discuss a possible meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. “The eyes of the whole world are focused on the contacts here,” Fidan said.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky headed the Kremlin team. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov led negotiations for Kyiv. “We are insisting on a full and unconditional end to the killing now,” Umerov said in a press conference following the talks.