The Russian side did everything possible to push the United States out of the negotiation platform in Istanbul — and they succeeded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a briefing. According to him,

Russian and Ukrainian delegates met in Istanbul on Monday for their second set of direct peace talks, a day after Kyiv launched a shock drone attack on Russia’s nuclear-capable bombers, in an operation that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a year and a half in the making.