Russia and Ukraine agreed a large-scale prisoner exchange, said they would trade ideas on a possible ceasefire and discussed a potential meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in their first direct talks in over three years on Friday (May 16, 2025).

But coming out of the highly anticipated talks in Istanbul, which lasted just over 90 minutes, there were few signs of more significant progress toward ending the three-year war.

Kyiv was seeking an “unconditional ceasefire” to pause a conflict that has destroyed large swathes of Ukraine and displaced millions of people.

Moscow has consistently rebuffed those calls, and the only concrete agreement appeared to be a deal to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.

The two sides also said they would “present their vision of a possible future ceasefire”, said Russia’s top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky. Russia also took note of Ukraine’s request for a meeting of Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, he said. “Overall, we are satisfied with the results and ready to continue contacts,” Mr. Medinsky added.

Ukraine’s top negotiator, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, confirmed the prisoner swap in a separate statement and also said a ceasefire and a possible presidential meeting had been discussed.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy later said, “We understand that if we want to make progress, we need to have this meeting of leaders,” praising the prisoner swap as a “great result”.