The Kremlin on Saturday said that Ukraine and Russia must first complete an agreed prisoner-of-war exchange and come up with ceasefire conditions before planning any new talks.
"For now, we need to do what the delegations agreed on yesterday" in Turkey – the first direct talks in over three years – the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists following a question on whether there were plans for a second round of talks. "This, of course, means first and foremost to complete a 1,000 for 1,000 (POW) swap."
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Zelensky had challenged the Kremlin leader to meet him in Turkey this week but Putin instead sent a team of aides and officials to meet Ukrainian negotiators on Friday for the first bilateral, face-to-face talks since March 2022. Ukraine said it had raised the issue of a Putin-Zelensky meeting at the talks.
Peskov said Russia considered such a meeting was possible, but only as a result of work between the two sides to "achieve certain results in the form of agreements".
He added: "At the same time, when signing documents that the delegations are to agree upon, the main and fundamental thing for us remains who exactly will sign these documents from the Ukrainian side."
Peskov did not elaborate on that remark. Putin has previously challenged Zelensky's legitimacy as president because his elected term of office expired last year. Ukraine, under martial law as it defends itself against Russia, has not set a date for a new election.
Fighting goes on
On Saturday, the morning following the talks, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in the eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded seven, local authorities said.
The latest strike shows how little progress has been made towards halting the fighting that has dragged on for more than three years, destroyed large swathes of Ukraine and displaced millions of people.
Ukraine's Sumy border region has come under increasing deadly bombardments by Moscow since March when Ukrainian forces were pushed out of Russia's neighbouring Kursk region, which they had partially controlled since the summer of 2024.
Furthermore, two people were killed and 13 wounded in the southeastern Kherson region, after a Russian shelling hit a residential area and a truck carrying humanitarian aid on Saturday morning.
In the eastern Kharkiv region, right on the border with Russia, two people were killed and about a dozen were wounded as a result of Russian aerial attacks over the past 24 hours.
The latest attacks came after three people were killed in Russian strikes on Friday on Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and southeastern Kherson regions, as the talks were ongoing.
'Real steps' needed
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was sure that US counterpart Donald Trump would "react" to Putin's "cynicism" on Ukraine following the deadly minibus attack.
Putin had declined to travel to Turkey for the meeting, with Zelensky accusing him of being "afraid" and Russia of not taking the talks "seriously".
"Yesterday in Istanbul, everyone saw a weak and unprepared Russian delegation with no significant powers. This must change. We need real steps to end the war," Zelensky said on Saturday.
The Ukrainian leader attended a European summit in Albania alongside the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland, among others, where he urged a "strong reaction" from the world if the Istanbul talks failed, including new sanctions.
French President Emmanuel Macron said European nations were coordinating with the United States on additional sanctions against Russia should Moscow continue to refuse an "unconditional ceasefire".
Both Moscow and Washington have talked up the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and US President Donald Trump.
Trump has said "nothing's going to happen" on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.
During the Istanbul talks, a Ukrainian source told AFP that Russia was advancing hardline territorial demands that Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy called "unacceptable".
Moscow claims annexation of five Ukrainian regions -- four since its 2022 invasion, and Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)
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