One day after having exchanged some of the most intense air attacks in the war, Russia and Ukraine had to meet in Istanbul on Monday for peace talks, discussions that will be complicated by their well -established positions and the situation on the battlefield.
Russia and Ukraine should officially exchange their respective conditions for an agreement during the second cycle of negotiations since the two parties resumed direct dialogue two weeks ago.
Expectations are low for talks, who were to start in the early afternoon in a five-star hotel on the European Bospore shore.
Moscow and kyiv speak under pressure from President Trump, who alternately cajolized and reprimanded the leaders of the two countries. But Russia and Ukraine have been held firm, neither of them presenting conditions in the discussion which are acceptable on the other side.
While negotiations pulverized, attacks on the battlefield have intensified. The Russian army seems to have launched a new offensiveAdvancing to the fastest rate since last fall and opening a new front in the northern region of Sumy in Ukraine. He also bombed Ukrainian cities with some of the largest drone and missile attacks, including a 500 drones and lure dam on Sunday.
Ukraine, for its part, has adapted and has evolved in the face of a much greater army with deeper resources. Ukrainian drones, in a Ambitious and coordinated attackstruck air bases in the depths of Russia this weekend.
