London – The Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet again in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday to participate in the next round of negotiated peace conversations in the United States aimed at ending the invasion of their 3 -year -old neighbor of Russia. The conversations occur only one day after Ukraine launched a bold drone attack against the strategic fleet of Russian bombers.
The conversations revived so far have failed to reach a peace agreement, or even reach a sustained fire, despite the pressure on both sides of the administration of President Donald Trump. The last meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul in mid -May was the first direct contact between the two parties from the spring of 2022.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday, according to a reading published by the State Department, who said the call took place “at the request of Russia.”
“The Rubio Secretary reiterated President Trump’s call to continue direct conversations between Russia and Ukraine to achieve lasting peace,” said the State Department.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the two men “exchanged opinions on several initiatives on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”
This combination of images created on May 25, 2025 shows the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
DREW ANGERER/AFP through Getty Images
Ukraine is asking for a full fire of 30 days during which peace negotiations can take place. Russia has rejected the application, with President Vladimir Putin and his senior officials that retain the maximalist war objectives that date back to the initial days of the Russian invasion.
Among the demands of Kremlin are the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, plus the retention of Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, Ukrainian demilitarization and a permanent block in the adhesion of the country to NATO.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on a social media post on Sunday that the kyiv delegation will be directed by the Minister of Defense Rustem Uumev.
The president established the objectives of Ukraine for the meeting. “First, a high and unconditional fire,” he wrote. “Second, the release of prisoners. Third, the return of the kidnapped children. And to establish a reliable and lasting peace and guarantee security, the preparation of the meeting at the highest level.”
Zelenskyy and his government have repeatedly accused Putin of intentionally sabotling peace conversations since Trump returned to office in January, after promising in the campaign to finish the war within 24 hours. The threat of Trump of new sanctions to Russia does not seem to have softened the Kremlin war objectives.
Zelenskyy and his European sponsors have pressed to Trump to increase Putin pressure through the introduction of new sanctions on Russia and provide Ukraine more military support. Keith Kellogg, sent from Trump Ukraine-Russia, hinted at the growing frustration of the president with Moscow, telling ABC News last week that the president has “seen a level of irrationality that really frustrates him.”
In a telephone conversation with Trump in May, Putin said Russia would provide a “peace memorandum” describing a possible agreement. Moscow has not yet provided the document. Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin assistant and a member of the old part of the Russian negotiation team, said the Russian team that the Russian team had received the Ukraine version of La Paz Memorandum.
Since the last round of conversations in Istanbul, Trump has attacked Putin, calling him “absolutely crazy”, and again criticized Zelenskyy, telling the Ukrainian leader: “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it and it is better to stop.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament that represents the Zelenskyy party and the president of the Body Foreign Affairs Committee, said ABC News: “The main objective of Russia is to avoid the sanctions pretending to negotiate.”
“Putin is not interested in negotiations and the high fire, because he hopes to start an offensive during the summer,” Merezhko added.
A worker clean windows before peace of conversations between Russia and Ukraine at Ciragan Palace, in Istanbul, Türkiye, on June 2, 2025.
Murad Sezer/Reuters
“On the one hand, it mimics the negotiations to avoid Trump’s sanctions and simultaneously to demonstrate that Russia is not politically isolated. However, on the other hand, Putin hopes that if Trump decides to retire from negotiations, he will leave Ukraine without military support, one by one with Russia.”
The conversations arrive a day after Ukraine launched one of the most impressive attacks of the war. In what a source in the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) told ABC News was an operation for a year and a half in creation, the agents used hidden attack drones in containers transported by trucks to attack strategic bases of bombers in the Russian territory.
Moscow has used long -range bombers and its cruise missile armaments to attack Ukrainian cities along the large -scale invasion. The SBU claimed to have hit more than 40 military planes in the attacks, which went to multiple air bases to thousands of miles from the Ukrainian territory. Zelenskyy said that 34% of the airplanes that transport Russia cruise missiles were beaten.
Speaking at a summit of the most Nordic countries of Bucharest in Lithuania on Monday, Zelenskyy said about Sunday’s drone attack: “Russia must realize what it means to suffer losses. That is what will push it towards diplomacy.”
“This is a special moment,” Zelenskyy added. “On the one hand, Russia has begun its summer offensive. But on the other, it is forced to participate in diplomacy. And this is both a challenge and also a real opportunity for all of us. It is an opportunity to end this war.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense framed the operation as “a terrorist attack”, claiming that the strikes were “repelled” in three regions, but pointing out that several airplanes caught fire on the airfields during the attacks in Irkutsk and Murmansk, videos of which the SBU published.
Also on Sunday, the Russian authorities reported the collapse of two railways and the derailment of two trains in regions that border Ukraine, which blamed “explosions.” At least seven people were killed, authorities said.
In one direction on Sunday, Zelenskyy called the attack of Ukrainian drones as a “brilliant operation” and said Russia “suffered really significant losses.” The president framed the attack as a defensive measure.
“We will defend ourselves by all means available to us,” said Zelenskyy. “Not for a single second we wanted this war. We offered the Russians a high fire. Since March 11, the United States proposal of a complete and unconditional fire has been on the table. It was the Russians who chose to continue the war.”
“The pressure is really necessary: Pressure on Russia that should return it to reality,” added Zelenskyy. “Pressure through sanctions. Pressure of our forces. Pressure through diplomacy. Everything must work together.”
Meanwhile, unmanned aircraft attacks and long -range missiles continued overnight until Monday morning.
The Ukraine Air Force said that Russia launched 80 drones and four missiles into the country during the night, of which 52 were demolished or neutralized. The Air Force reported impacts on 12 locations.
The satellite image shows the damage to military airplanes at the Belaya de Russia Air Base, according to Chris Biggers, a consultant who specializes in satellite image analysis.
Chris Biggers / Umbra Space
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that demolished 162 Ukrainian drones in nine Russian regions during the night.
Ellie Kaufman and Patrick Reevell of ABC News contributed to this report.
