Delegations from Ukraine and Russia met for a second time in Istanbul in a month on June 2, 2025. Missing, again, were the country’s two leaders.
For a fleeting moment ahead of the first meeting in mid-May 2025, there existed the faintest prospect that Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine would join, sitting down in the same room for face-to-face talks.
