#RussiaUkraineCeasefire
Russia and Ukraine fail again to agree ceasefire but commit to prisoner swap
A second round of direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have ended without a major breakthrough, and only a deal to swap more prisoners of war.
Ukrainian negotiators said Russia had again rejected an "unconditional ceasefire" - a key demand by Kyiv and its allies in Europe and the US - but the two committed to return the bodies of 12,000 soldiers.
The Russian team said it had proposed a two- or three-day truce "in certain areas" of the vast front line, but gave no further details.
At Monday's talks, which were held in the Turkish city of Istanbul and lasted just over an hour, the two sides did agree to exchange all sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war, as well those aged under 25.
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peaking at a briefing after the meeting, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv's negotiating team, said Ukraine was insisting on a "full and and unconditional ceasefire" for at least 30 days on land, at sea and in the air to "end the killings now".
He said Ukraine had handed over its truce proposals to Russia "a few days ago" - but Moscow failed to do the same, presenting its plan only at the talks in Istanbul.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back at Russia's proposal of a temporary ceasefire to collect their dead.
"I think 'this, because the whole point of a ceasefire is to stop people from becoming dead," he wrote on the social media site, X.
