Russian demands at Istanbul talks are unacceptable to Ukraine, MFA says

He said this during a briefing after the talks with Russia in Istanbul.

Answering journalists’ questions about these demands, Tykhyi said he was not authorized to share details of the negotiations for diplomatic reasons.

“I can’t answer in detail because it wouldn’t be proper diplomatically. But I can say that Russia made low demands that the Ukrainian delegation found unacceptable,” he said.

At the same time, Tykhyi stressed that Ukraine’s position stayed firm.

“We stood by our position, stayed strong, and focused the talks on what matters to us. This is what is realistically achievable. If we managed to agree on even one point — the exchange of a thousand for a thousand — that’s very important. It will bring joy to at least a thousand Ukrainian families. This is a success for the Ukrainian delegation,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul

In a nighttime address on May 11, Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed he was ready for direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey next week, but he dismissed the idea of a 30-day truce. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would keep working with both sides and predicted that the coming week would be “great.”

On the evening of May 14, Russia announced the composition of its delegation for talks with Ukraine in Istanbul.

Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later stated that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not be present during the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Turkey on May 15.

On May 16, a trilateral meeting of delegations from Ukraine, the United States, and Turkey took place in Istanbul. Following this, negotiations between representatives of Russia and Ukraine began, with some delay.

Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kremlin sent a low-level delegation to the talks in Istanbul that didn’t have the authority to make any decisions.