The Kremlin is insisting on the 2022 Istanbul format for negotiations as a way to buy time and blame Kyiv for the stalling of current peace talks, while planning to repeat an invasion under more favorable conditions in the future,

On August 18, Trump again said that Zelensky and Putin should meet as soon as possible. Lavrov may have been trying to portray the Kremlin's offer to continue the Istanbul Summit talks and working groups as a fulfillment of Putin's rumored promise to Trump to hold a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.

After the Alaska Summit with US President Donald Trump, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has made four demands to end the war. The demands show that he has largely stuck to his maximalist objectives despite Trump’s claims and only made minor changes.

According to the Kremlin, the dictator “shared his views” on talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska. The Russian side also noted Turkey’s role in facilitating peace negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held a telephone conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Among the key topics are the summit in Alaska, as well as negotiations in Istanbul. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the Kremlin press service.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "noted with satisfaction Turkey's assistance in hosting talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul," the Kremlin reported.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy but all issues must be worked through first and there's a question about Zelenskiy's authority to sign a peace deal, Putin's foreign minister said on Thursday.

EADaily, August 19th, 2025. Russia and Ukraine is likely to continue direct negotiations in Istanbul, at which the status of representatives of the parties may be increased.

The disheartening and frustrating fact is that Russia is in a much stronger negotiating position now than they were earlier in the war, when Western officials

Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, at 3:30 pm ET (