Kyiv, Ukraine – The Kremlin said Saturday a meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement, a day after the first direct talks between the two countries in more than three years.
Early Saturday, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in the eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded five, local authorities said.
“Yesterday, as on any day of this war, there was an opportunity to cease fire,” Zelensky said on social media after the attack. “Russia only retains the opportunity to continue killing”.
He reiterated his call for reinforced sanctions against Moscow.
“Without stronger sanctions, without stronger pressure on Russia, there will be no real diplomacy there,” Zelensky insisted.
On Friday, the first direct talks since the spring of 2022 — shortly after Moscow’s full-scale invasion that February — between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul resulted in a concrete agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.
Ukraine’s top negotiator, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said the “next step” would be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.
Russia said it took note of the request.
“We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work and upon achieving certain results in the form of an agreement between the two sides,” the Kremlin’s spokesman said.
Trump denounces ‘bloodbath’
Russia’s top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky said that Moscow and Kyiv would “present their vision of a possible future ceasefire”, without saying when.
The Kremlin said that first the POW swap had to be completed and both sides need to present their visions for a ceasefire before fixing the next round of talks.
“For now, we need to do what the delegations agreed on yesterday” in Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, which meant “first and foremost to complete a 1,000 for 1,000 swap”.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kirillo Budanov, told broadcaster TSN he hoped the exchange would happen next week.
Posting on Truth Social Saturday, Trump said he would speak to Putin on Monday to discuss finding a way out of the “BLOODBATH”.
Afterwards, he added, he would speak to Zelensky and NATO officials, expressing hope that a “ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war… will end”.
Both Moscow and Washington have already talked up the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and Trump.
Trump has argued that “nothing’s going to happen” on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the latest prisoner exchange in a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, his spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
But he underlined Trump’s call “for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the violence”, Bruce added. “The comprehensive peace plan proposed by the United States outlines the best way forward,” she said.
Fighting goes on
The attack on the bus happened near the city of Bilopillya, local community head Yuri Zarko told Suspilne TV. A family of three died in the attack, the authorities said.
After the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was sure Trump would react to Putin’s “cynicism”.
Elsewhere on the frontlines, the Russian army said its troops captured Oleksandropil village in the eastern Donetsk region, the site of some of the most intense fighting in the war.
As well as Sumy, Russia also pounded missiles and drones across eastern Ukraine, killing six and wounding more than a dozen. In Kherson, Russian shelling hit a truck carrying humanitarian aid Saturday morning.
Putin declined to travel to Turkey for the meeting, leading Zelensky to accuse him of being “afraid” and to argue that Russia was not taking the talks seriously.
“Yesterday in Istanbul, everyone saw a weak and unprepared Russian delegation with no significant powers. This must change. We need real steps to end the war,” Zelensky said Saturday.
On Friday, Zelensky had called for a “strong reaction” from the world if the Istanbul talks failed, including new sanctions while attending a European summit in Albania.
Macron said European nations were coordinating with Washington on additional sanctions should Moscow continue to refuse an “unconditional ceasefire”.
During the Istanbul talks, the Ukrainian side said Russia had made “unacceptable” territorial demands.
Moscow claims annexation of five Ukrainian regions — four since its 2022 invasion, and Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
