Key Points – Russia-Ukraine peace talks held in Istanbul on Monday, June 2nd, were brief and unproductive, with Russia reportedly reiterating “punitive” demands including Ukrainian surrender of significant new territories, demilitarization, neutrality, and international recognition of its existing annexations—conditions Kyiv rejects.
-This diplomatic impasse occurred just after Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb,” a daring June 1st drone strike that reportedly destroyed or damaged over 40 Russian strategic aircraft deep inside Russia using ingeniously deployed FPV drones.
-While Ukraine celebrated this tactical success, its impact on forcing a more favorable peace settlement or altering Russia’s entrenched war aims remains highly uncertain.
The Ukraine War Just Won’t End
Russia and Ukraine finally sat down for peace talks in Istanbul on Monday- but it turns out they were rather brief.
Per Reuters, which cited a memorandum that was reported in the Russian media, Russia’s demands for peace are “punitive,” and would require Ukraine to surrender “big new chunks of territory” and accept a smaller army going forward.
Russia also demands “international recognition” of Crimea and other regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — as Russian territory, and that Ukraine remain “neutral,” meaning that it cannot join NATO.
The Russians also offered a pair of ceasefire options, one of which would entail Ukraine withdrawing forces from all of the disputed territories, and the other of which would require Ukraine to “cease military redeployments and accept a halt to foreign provision of military aid, satellite communications and intelligence,” while also holding new elections quickly.
Ukraine has rejected those conditions, leading the Istanbul meeting to be rather short- “barely an hour,” according to the report, and it did not result in a ceasefire or any other major development that could lead to the end of the war. The two sides, however, did agree to another prisoner exchange, as well as an exchange of the remains of dead soldiers.
Ukraine’s Plan to End the War
Ukraine, per Reuters, has its own “roadmap” to end the war.
Their plan consists of “no restrictions on its military strength after any peace deal, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow’s forces, and reparations.”
“A Great Meeting”
One party did think the meeting went well- its host, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who called it “a great meeting” and suggested additional talks, to be attended by Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, as well as Donald Trump.
Ukraine, per the same report, believes that “only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention.”
Does the Drone Attack Change Anything?
In addition to the talks, there was another big development this week in the war: Ukraine’s successful drone attack, deep inside Russia, which Ukraine calls Operation Spider’s Web.
According to the New York Times, Ukraine launched 117 drones in the attack, which struck all across Russian territory, “hitting airfields from eastern Siberia to Russia’s western border,” with the attacks hitting across five different time zones.
The surprise attack damaged numerous Russian aircraft.
According to the Times report about how the planning worked, “dozens of drones were secretly transported into Russia. They were packed onto pallets inside wooden containers with remote-controlled lids and then loaded onto trucks.” The crates, Ukraine added, were “rigged to self-destruct after the drones were released.”
President Zelenskyy did a victory lap on X after the attack.
“Today, a brilliant operation was carried out — on enemy territory, targeting only military objectives, specifically the equipment used to strike Ukraine. Russia suffered significant losses — entirely justified and deserved,” the Ukrainian president said, adding that the attacks were the result of a year-and-a-half of preparation, also claiming that the “office” for the preparations was next to an FSB headquarters in one region.
“It’s genuinely satisfying when something I authorized a year and six months ago comes to fruition and deprives Russians of over forty units of strategic aviation. We will continue this work,” Zelenskyy said in the post. “Even before this operation was carried out, we had intelligence indicating that Russia was preparing another massive strike. It is very important for all our people not to ignore the air raid alerts.”
What does this mean for the war and its potential end? It’s too early to tell.
“If even half the total claim of 41 aircraft damaged/destroyed is confirmed, it will have a significant impact on the capacity of the Russian Long Range Aviation force to keep up its regular large-scale cruise missile salvos against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, whilst also maintaining their nuclear deterrence and signaling patrols against NATO and Japan,” Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told the Times.
The Times also reported that the Trump Administration was “not given advance notice” of the drone attack.
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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