Ukraine-Russia Conflict
The Ukraine-Russia Conflict is intensifying because of more drone strikes and the talks to end the conflict are making little progress.
On June 2, 2025, Ukraine and Russia gathered at Istanbul to hold a new round of talks in order to reduce the intensity in the ongoing conflict. Reaching agreement on measures such as exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war and sending 6,000 fallen soldiers back home from each side, the negotiations did not result in stopping the war or making a full peace deal.
Discussions at the talks were strongly influenced by Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb,” where thousands of unmanned planes were used to attack many Russian airfields. Innovative methods helped Ukrainian forces destroy or seriously harm more than 40 strategic bombers, especially many nuclear-capable aircraft, at a cost of about $7 billion. As a response, Russia unleashed its largest air assault yet, using 479 drones and missiles and 12 Ukrainian soldiers lost their lives and 60 were wounded.
During the Istanbul talks, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov from Ukraine requested a 30-day ceasefire in order to allow more talks. Yet Russia turned down the idea, offering only a short pause in fighting in specific parts to recover their own soldiers. Ukraine brought a list of almost 400 abducted kids, but Russia chose only to look into the return of ten, continuing to raise humanitarian issues.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that only face-to-face discussions with Vladimir Putin can bring about necessary decisions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan believes holding a joint summit could move the peace process forward, including U.S. President Donald Trump.
With this new escalation during the third year of the conflict, it is clear that lasting peace is still hard to reach. While humanitarian agreements provide limited help, making peace is still hard because there is so much distrust.
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