Overview
- Russia’s Foreign Ministry told TASS it is ready to restart direct talks in Istanbul and said “the ball is in Ukraine’s court,” citing Turkish encouragement to resume dialogue.
- Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa said talks were officially halted after failing to make significant progress this year.
- Moscow confirmed a one-off UK outreach when National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell spoke with Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, but the Kremlin said the contact did not develop into a channel.
- Sergei Lavrov said he hopes Washington avoids escalation and reiterated Moscow’s readiness for a Putin–Trump summit in Budapest, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any leader meeting must yield a concrete result.
- Earlier Istanbul rounds produced prisoner exchanges, the return of bodies and procedural memorandums, while Ukrainian officials and analysts describe Russia’s renewed “readiness” claims as pressure without movement on core demands.