Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday (July 23) for peace talks with Ukraine that are set to take place Wednesday evening. The makeup of the Russian delegation has not changed since the previous round of negotiations as Moscow is represented by President Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, head of the Russian military intelligence Igor Kostyukov, and Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin. The Ukrainian delegation has also arrived in Istanbul, Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne reported, citing the foreign ministry spokesperson. A Turkish foreign ministry source said the meeting at the Ciragan Palace was expected to start at 1600 GMT with opening remarks to the two delegations by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Previous talks on May 16 and June 2 led to the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers. But those meetings lasted less than three hours in total and made no breakthrough towards ending the war that started with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JULY 23, 2025) (RUPTLY - No new usage after August 21, 2025)

1. (LEFT TO RIGHT) HEAD OF RUSSIAN DELEGATION, VLADIMIR MEDINSKY, RUSSIA’S MILITARY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF, IGOR KOSTYUKOV, DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, MIKHAIL GALUZIN, AND DEPUTY DEFENCE MINISTER, ALEXANDER FOMIN, GETTING OFF PLANE

2. DELEGATION MEMBERS APPROACHING JOURNALISTS AND OFFICIALS

3. OFFICIALS STANDING

4. RUSSIAN DELEGATION MEMBERS BEING GREETED BY OFFICIALS