Russia-Ukraine War Supported by After more than three years of war, Russia and Ukraine are engaged in direct and public talks to end the fighting, but their positions remain far apart. By Constant Méheut and Ivan Nechepurenko Constant Méheut reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia A day after exchanging some of the most intense air attacks of the war, Russia and Ukraine were set to meet in Istanbul on Monday for peace talks, discussions that will be complicated by their entrenched positions and the situation on the battlefield. Russia and Ukraine are expected to formally exchange their respective conditions for a deal in the second round of negotiations since the two sides resumed direct dialogue two weeks ago. Expectations are low for the talks, which were expected to kick off in the early afternoon local time at a five-star hotel on the European shore of the Bosporus. Moscow and Kyiv are talking under pressure from President Trump, who has alternatively cajoled and chided both countries’ leaders. But Russia and Ukraine have been holding firm, with neither expected to present conditions in the discussion that are acceptable to the other side. As negotiations sputter, attacks on the battlefield have intensified. The Russian army appears to have launched a new offensive, advancing at the fastest pace since last fall and opening a new front in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine. It has also bombarded Ukrainian cities with some of the biggest drone and missile attacks of the years, including a barrage of 500 drones and decoys on Sunday. Ukraine, for its part, has adapted and evolved in the face of a much larger military with deeper resources. Ukrainian drones, in an ambitious, coordinated attack, struck air bases deep inside Russia this weekend. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.