On Monday, the 2nd of June, a second round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul, Turkey. However, the meeting lasted only about an hour and did not yield any concrete results.
According to reports from various media outlets including the Associated Press, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in Vilnius, Lithuania that both sides exchanged documents through the Turkish side and are preparing for a new round of a prisoner exchange. He emphasized that if the negotiations fail, Russia should face more severe sanctions.
The meeting took place at the Çırağan Palace, a historic venue from the Ottoman Empire era, and was chaired by the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. The Ukrainian delegation was led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian delegation was led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky. Each side had more than ten representatives in attendance, with some Ukrainian representatives wearing military uniforms.
On the 16th of May, the two sides also conducted a new round of talks in Istanbul which lasted less than two hours, agreeing to a large-scale exchange of prisoners but without any major breakthrough.
Ahead of the new round of talks on Monday, Ukraine launched a drone attack codenamed “Operation Spiderweb” targeting five Russian military air bases. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), this operation destroyed or damaged 41 Russian strategic bombers, including Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and A-50 airborne early warning aircraft, accounting for about 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers, resulting in approximately $7 billion in losses.
President Zelenskyy described this operation as “a spectacular action that will be written into history” and revealed that it had been planned for a year and a half. The head of the Ukrainian Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, characterized this operation as a “serious blow to the Russian military power.”
In response to the Ukrainian military offensive, Russia deployed 472 drones on Sunday to counterattack Ukraine, marking a new high in numbers since the full-scale invasion, indicating Russia’s attempt to perform high-density attacks to breach Ukraine’s air defense system.
Russia had a low-key reaction to the attack, with state-owned media providing only brief coverage. For instance, “Russia One” aired a one-minute Defense Ministry statement on Sunday evening before shifting to report on Russia’s drone attacks on Ukraine.
Phillips O’Brien, a strategic studies professor at St. Andrews University, described this attack as a “major blow to the Russian strategic air force,” revealing significant weaknesses in its military defense. Edward Lucas, a senior research fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), characterized this as “the most audacious blow in the war” and a “military and strategic turning point.”
This drone attack occurred following Russia’s massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 80 drones on the night of June 1st, with Ukraine successfully shooting down 52 of them. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces shot down 162 Ukrainian drones in eight regions and the Crimean Peninsula.
Simultaneously, fierce battles continued along the frontlines, with clashes spanning approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), and both sides launching attacks deep into enemy territory.
On Monday, Russian artillery shelled the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, resulting in 3 deaths and 19 injuries, including 2 children. Additionally, missile and artillery strikes hit the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, causing 5 deaths and 9 injuries.
With peace negotiations yielding no results, Zelenskyy called for stricter sanctions against Russia and emphasized that Ukraine will continue to defend its territorial integrity.