Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul on Monday to exchange memorandums on a possible ceasefire to end Vladimir Putin's three-year war, although the Gulf still exists between the two positions.
The delegation from Kiev and Moscow held a second round of negotiations at the Çırağan Palace in Bosphorus, with Turkey and the United States in the second round, since the peace process resumed its first last month for the first time since the early stages of the conflict.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the two sides planned to discuss a ceasefire, a potential meeting between the Russian president and his Ukrainian rival Volodymyr Zelenskyy and prisoners exchange.
However, the two delegations did not shake hands and made no progress in a potential deal, as Putin refused to make it from his greatest demand.
After the meeting, a senior Ukrainian official said no major breakthrough was achieved, “as we expected, smaller steps”. "It seems they are showing diplomatic photos for Trump," officials added.
Russia's stubborn attitude frustrated the U.S. president, who boasted that he could resolve the conflict on the first day of the office and believed that his close relationship with Putin could help brokers reach a deal.
Instead, Russia rejected a 22-point peace plan and quickly met the demands, prompting Trump to suggest that the United States will retreat to peace in the peace process after the first round of negotiations in May.
On Sunday, Ukraine launched one of the most daring military operations in the war, crashing into dozens of Russian planes at four airports, from eastern Siberia.
The attacks themselves came just hours after Russia launched its largest drone strike against Ukraine since 2022, attacking the cities of Kief, Kharkif and Zaporizhia with 472 drones.
The Ukrainian delegation, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, released a memorandum ahead of Monday's meeting, proposing a complete and unconditional ceasefire to ensure Ukraine's security and territorial integrity, as well as confidence-building measures as the basis for a potential peace agreement.
Russia refused to issue its memorandum before negotiations or hand it over to Ukraine.
Vladimir Medinsky, a senior aide to Putin's Russian delegation, said in weeks after the first meeting that Moscow was reluctant to take on other senior officials from insisting on resolving the "root causes" of the conflict.
Putin had previously asked Ukraine to accept the caps of armed forces from four regions partially controlled by Russia - Donetsk, Luhansk, Helsen and Zaporizhzhia, and promised never to join NATO.
In the first round of negotiations, Medinsky put forward what Ukrainian officials called "unacceptable" territorial demands and threatened that Russia would conquer more areas if its conditions were not met.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said that after the first round of negotiations, Moscow hoped Kyiv would provide protection for the country's Russian spokesperson and revoked most of the legislation under the Zelensky government.
Ukraine believes that these conditions will constitute the end of surrender and its role as a sovereign state.
Russia also downplayed the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump, saying such summits can only be planned after talks in Istanbul are over.