The newest talks in Istanbul have been adopted by extra prisoner exchanges, however yielded no breakthrough in ending the warfare.
Russian forces are pushing to create “buffer zones” alongside the border with Ukraine, the Kremlin has mentioned, as combating rages on within the wake of a 3rd spherical of peace talks that once more didn’t yield any progress in direction of a ceasefire, in a fourth 12 months of warfare.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the feedback throughout a briefing on Thursday, signalling that Russia had no intention of de-escalating its warfare on Ukraine following a brief meeting Wednesday between delegations in Istanbul that lasted simply 40 minutes.
Negotiators within the Turkish metropolis mentioned additional prisoner swaps, however remained far aside on a ceasefire and a proposed face-to-face assembly between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sought by the latter.
At a information convention in Istanbul following the talks, Vladimir Medinsky, the top of the Russian delegation, mentioned an trade of prisoners had been carried out on the Ukraine-Belarus border, with about 250 folks returned to every aspect.
Greater than 1,000 Ukrainians returned
Zelenskyy confirmed the trade, saying in a put up on social media that Wednesday’s prisoner swap – the ninth stage of an trade course of agreed to by the events in Istanbul – meant that greater than 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners had been returned beneath the settlement.
“For a thousand households, this implies the enjoyment of embracing their family members once more,” Zelenskyy mentioned, including that most of the prisoners had been in captivity for greater than three years.
“It is necessary that the exchanges are ongoing and our persons are coming residence,” he mentioned.
“We’ll proceed doing every little thing doable to make sure that each one among our folks returns from captivity.”
Drone and missile assaults
Following the transient assembly in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine continued their air assaults in opposition to one another, with Russian drones and missiles focusing on Ukrainian territory in a single day and casualties reported in Russia.
Russia launched 103 assault drones and 4 missiles at Ukraine in a single day, killing three folks within the Kharkiv area, Zelenskyy mentioned in a social media put up on Thursday. Greater than 10 others have been wounded in Cherkasy, together with a 9-year-old youngster, he added.
He famous that, only a day earlier, Ukraine’s delegation in Istanbul had reiterated its “proposal for a right away and full ceasefire”.
“In response, Russian drones struck residential buildings and the Pryvoz market in Odesa, condo blocks in Cherkasy, power infrastructure within the Kharkiv area, a college fitness center in Zaporizhzhia,” he mentioned.
“We’ll make each effort to make sure that diplomacy works,” he added. “However it’s Russia that should finish this warfare.”
Yesterday, on the assembly in Istanbul, the proposal for a right away and full ceasefire was reiterated to the Russian aspect. In response, Russian drones struck residential buildings and the Pryvoz market in Odesa, condo blocks in Cherkasy, power infrastructure within the Kharkiv… pic.twitter.com/Ax9Q0xEM6z
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 24, 2025
In Russia, emergency officers within the Krasnodar area on the Black Sea mentioned particles from a falling drone struck and killed a girl within the Adler district close to the resort metropolis of Sochi, whereas a second lady was critically injured, the Reuters information company reported.
