But there are few signs of an end to the three-year war from the highly anticipated talks that lasted more than 90 minutes.
Kiev is seeking an “unconditional ceasefire” to suspend a conflict that has destroyed a large number of Ukraine and millions of people displaced.
Moscow has been rejecting the calls, and the only specific agreement appears to be a deal for exchange of 1,000 prisoners.
Russia’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the two sides said they would “propose their vision for a future ceasefire.”
They disagree with any suspension of combat.
“Overall, we are satisfied with the results and are ready to continue to engage,” Medeski said.
Rustem Umerov, the top negotiator of Ukraine, said the “next step” will be a meeting between the two presidents. Russia said this took note of the request.
“We know that if we want to make progress, we need to hold this meeting.”
Zelensky says Putin is “feared”
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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the meeting, said that in principle, the two sides agreed to hold another meeting, and put forward the “cease-fire idea” in “written”.
Video of the room shows Fidan sitting on the head of a table in front of the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul – a delegation of Russia and Ukraine face to face with each other, and video of the room shows.
But there seems to be little progress on more basic issues.
Tykhy said Russia has made many “unacceptable demands” and sources told AFP Russia demanded Kiev abandon more territory – a strategy designed to derail the negotiations.
However, the fact of this meeting was simply a sign of the movement, and both sides were under stable pressure from Washington.
Putin refused to go to Türkiye to attend the meeting, but instead sent a second-tier team.
Zelensky said Putin was “feared” in the meeting and accused Russia of not taking the talks “seriously”.
At the European Summit in Albania, Ukrainian leaders urged a “strong reaction” from the world if negotiations fail, including new sanctions.
Both Moscow and Washington have spoken about the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
A Zelensky spokesman said leaders from Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland called Trump on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that if Moscow continues to reject a “unconditional ceasefire”, European countries are coordinating additional sanctions against Russia with the United States.
Trump said in the conflict that “nothing will happen” until he faces Putin, although Macron suggests “phone contact” happening first.
“Unacceptable demand”
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Before the negotiations, Ukrainian officials in Istanbul held meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg and national security advisers in the UK, France and Germany.
According to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, Rubio urged the “peaceful” ending of the war and said “the killing needs to be stopped.”
During the negotiations, Ukrainian sources told AFP that Russia is raising hard-line territorial requirements.
Moscow claims to annex five Ukrainian regions, four since the invasion in 2022, and Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
“The Russian representative made unacceptable demands … for example, Ukraine withdraws troops from most of IT-controlled Ukraine in order to start a ceasefire,” the source said.
They accused Moscow of seeking to “throwing non-player”, so the negotiations ended “without any result”.
Another source familiar with the negotiations said Russia threatened to occupy Ukraine’s Sumi and Kharkif regions.
Both regions bordered Russia at the beginning of the conflict and were invaded by Moscow’s army, although Russia had not previously made formal territorial claims against them.
Russia has repeatedly stated that it will not discuss abandoning any territory occupied by its troops.
Putin called on Kief to withdraw from Donetsk, Lukank, Helsen and Zaparishiya regions last year from areas that are still in control.
