After days of confusion and theatrics, direct peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators took place on Friday in Istanbul for the first time since the start of the war, resulting in an agreement to conduct what would be the largest prisoner swap of the conflict.
After the negotiations, which lasted an hour and 40 minutes, the leaders of the Ukrainian and Russian delegations confirmed in news briefings that they had agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each soon.
But the two sides failed to broker a temporary cease-fire that Kyiv has sought or a meeting between their two leaders, demonstrating how far apart the warring parties remained on steps toward ending the conflict.
During the talks, the Russian team told the Ukrainians that, to achieve the cease-fire they are seeking, Kyiv should withdraw entirely from the four regions in east Ukraine that Moscow annexed in late 2022, according to a Turkish official familiar with the discussions. Ukraine still controls vast swaths of that land, including two regional capitals.
Such demands — which Russian officials also made during meetings with American negotiators this year — have fed fears that Moscow is being unrealistic in talks and called into question whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has said he is winning on the battlefield, is, in fact, prepared to end the war.
Mr. Putin wants to keep the attention of President Trump, who is promising a new era of warm ties between Moscow and Washington, and to convince the White House that he isn’t stonewalling the peace in Ukraine that Mr. Trump promised as a presidential candidate.
