New attempted negotiation between Ukraine and Russia - hope or illusion?

New attempted negotiation between Ukraine and Russia - hope or illusion?

Bilopilja, Ukraine - On May 29, 2025, the situation in the Ukraine conflict further intensified. The Russian government is planning talks with Kiev about a possible ceasefire and proposed new negotiations in Istanbul on Monday, June 2. The meeting of presidential advisor Vladimir Medinski is to be directed. Ukraine is ready for such a meeting, but previously requires insight into the Russian peace conditions. Russian armed forces also report on taking three towns in Ukraine, which further fueled the tensions.

In the past few days, the drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine have been continued to a worrying extent. In the night of Saturday, at least 15 people in Kiev and the surrounding area were injured, and houses shot down as falling debris. There was originally talk of eight injuries. President Wolodymyr Selenskyj reported on many fire and explosions in the city and demanded increased international punitive measures against Russia. The Russian attacks refer not only to Kiev, but also to the regions of Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Charkiw.

The human costs of the attacks

The situation in Ukraine is catastrophic. A civilian was killed in nightly drone attacks in Bilopilja (Sumy region) while several injuries are to be complained about. In the Dnipropetrovsk industrial region, three civilians were injured and significant damage was found on residential buildings and 30 solar panels. In total there have been 250 drone attacks and 14 ballistic rocket attacks on the entire Ukraine in the past few days, as the Tagesschau reported.

In a terrifying wave of violence, the Russian Ministry of Defense has declared that they have recorded more than 100 Ukrainian drone attacks. At the same time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs complains that Russia has not sent a prospect of “peace memorandum”. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly classified the Russian attacks on the civilian population as a targeted reaction to international peace efforts.

The prisoner exchange and diplomatic efforts

A ray of hope in the dark context of the conflict was the recently agreed prisoner exchange, in which 1000 prisoners were given between Russia and Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked for a "dialogue in good faith" in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrow and praised the exchange as a positive step. Nevertheless, Russia currently shows no willingness to do an armistice or concessions to Ukraine, but speaks of peacefulness, so the swp .

The war, which has started with the annexation of Crimea by Russia and during the conflict in Donbas since 2014, has challenged countless human lives and shapes the geopolitical landscape of Europe. Wolodymyr Selenskyj, who has repeatedly demanded a summit with Vladimir Putin since his election in 2019, sees himself in an intergovernmental conflict, while Russia sees war as a domestic conflict.

The complexity of the conflict is not only shown in the military conflict, but also in the diplomatic negotiations, which are strongly dependent on the respective war curves. Peace still seems to be a long way off, while Russia and Ukraine remain in a stuck standoff.