Istanbul, 16 May

Russia and Ukraine agreed on Friday to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, the head of Russia’s delegation Vladimir Medinsky said. Medinsky also said Moscow and Kyiv agreed to provide each other with detailed proposals for a ceasefire.

The two nations are holding their first direct peace talks in three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations. Officials and observers expect them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than 3-year war.

The latest efforts got off to a rocky start on Thursday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face. Delegations from the two countries also flew to different Turkish cities and put together teams of significantly different diplomatic heft for possible talks.

Ukrainian officials held an early-morning meeting with national security advisers from the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to coordinate positions, a senior Ukrainian official said.

A three-way meeting between Turkey, US and Ukraine also took place, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said. The US side included Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio on Thursday said he didn’t foresee major developments in Istanbul.

Zelenskyy, meantime, flew to Albania to attend a meeting Friday of the leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards against the backdrop of the war.

The theme of the European Political Community, or EPC, summit in Tirana is “New Europe in a new world: unity – cooperation – joint action.” The gathering will also address ways to improve the continent’s competitiveness and tackle unauthorised migration.

“As Russia’s war against Ukraine continues, its consequences stretch far beyond Ukraine’s borders,” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and European Council President António Costa wrote in their EPC summit invitation letter.