Russia refuses to schedule peace talks amid ongoing conflict with Ukraine

On Thursday, May 22, 2025, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, announced that Russia and Ukraine have scheduled no further direct talks aimed at resolving their ongoing conflict, which has been ongoing for over three years. This declaration comes nearly a week after the first face-to-face meeting between the two nations since 2022, which took place in Istanbul. During the two-hour discussions, both sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war, the largest such swap during the conflict, but aside from this agreement, no significant breakthroughs were achieved. In the lead-up to the meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that ceasefire negotiations would begin “immediately.