After Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian air bases, the two sides talked for less than an hour in Istanbul, and a halt to the fighting seems out of reach for now.

It restated Moscow's demands that Ukraine become a neutral country - ruling out membership of NATO - and that it protect the rights of Russian speakers, make Russian an official language and enact a legal ban on glorification of Nazism. Ukraine rejects the Nazi charge as absurd and denies discriminating against Russian speakers.

Ukraine suspects Russia is not really interested in pausing the conflict and ending the war, and the head of the country’s delegation, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said the key points could only be resolved at face-to-face talks between President Zelensky and President Putin.