Istanbul Talks Conclude As World Awaits Feared Massive Russian Military Response On Ukraine

Despite Sunday's major Ukrainian drone operation deep inside Russian territory which is being called the country's Pearl Harbor, the second round of direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and coordinated by Turkey were held in Istanbul without a problem.

"The eyes of the whole world are focused on the contacts here," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the delegations as the sides squared off in the opulent Çırağan Palace by the Bosphorus. Faden said the aim of the talks is to reach a "sustainable peace".

"We believe that you will achieve concrete results that will bring us one step closer to peace," Fidan added, stressing that the meeting aims to evaluate the conditions for a cease-fire, including prepare for a potential future meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. There's also the potential for more prisoner swaps to come out of the dialogue.

But expectations are low at this point, and it seems that the Kremlin is patiently weighing its options to Sunday's assault, rather launching a hasty retaliatory attack. 

One Turkish publication writes that even as talks happened, there are "no sign that the two sides are any closer to a deal, the mood in Russia was angry as the talks kicked off, with influential war bloggers calling on Moscow to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Kyiv after Ukraine on Sunday launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere."

June 1, 2025: Russa's Pearl Harbor: "Russian bombers are burning en masse."

Russia’s delegation was again led Vladimir Medinsky, who arrived Sunday, while Ukraine’s team was headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and he had traveled Monday. Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin also took part, according to RIA Novosti.

While Russia's precise proposals and terms for truce are as yet unclear, Reuters earlier previewed the Ukrainian side's as wanting a full 30-day ceasefire by air, land, and sea - followed by a return of all prisoners, and of the return of all Ukrainian children allegedly taken into Russian-held territory.

Overnight there were a small amount of Russian ballistic missiles fired on Ukraine, while on the other side the drone swarm attacks continued on Russia, resulting in fires:

Overnight Ukrainian drone attacks on the Kursk and Voronezh regions sparked fires in residential buildings and disrupted traffic on a major highway, regional officials said early on Monday.

Air defenses destroyed a total of 162 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russia's Defense Ministry, downing 57 of the aircraft over the Kursk region.

Falling debris from destroyed drones in the Kursk region sparked fires at several houses and damaged private apartments, Acting Kursk region Governor Alexander Khinshtein said.

Zelensky, feeling confident and emboldened, is warning Russia there's more to come as US and European weapons are 'better' and Kiev has a full arsenal of them. Clearly Zelensky attempted to establish leverage with 'Operation Spider Web'.

One Russian overnight attack reportedly killed 12 Ukrainian soldiers at a military base in Ukraine’s Dnipro region.

And as the dust settles from the major Sunday operation, it has become clear that Russia has lost hundreds of millions worth of military hardware, including several strategic bombers, now destroyed.

Satellite images emerge: "Judging by the images, four Tu-22M3 bombers and three Tu-95MS bombers were likely destroyed during the operation. In addition, one Tu-95MS was probably damaged," Ukraine media sources say.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had hailed the major Sunday attacks as "absolutely brilliant" and said that the planning for the operation had been in the works for a year-and-a-half. "Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so – we are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war," he said.

The White House has still yet to make a definitive statement, and weekend reports said that Kiev hid its planning from Washington - however many analysts expressed doubt over this claim. President Trump, if he embraces or hails the operation too enthusiastically, might derail efforts at improved bilateral relations with Russia. Any statement seen as giving a US 'blessing' might also serve to thwart ongoing ceasefire attempts.