ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 15, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s invitation to engage in bilateral negotiations in Istanbul and continues refusing to offer concessions to end the war in Ukraine.
The Russian delegation in Istanbul does not include officials in Putin’s innermost circle and is largely the same delegation that Russia sent to the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in 2022 in Istanbul.
Medinsky explicitly described the May 2025 Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul as a continuation of the early 2022 Istanbul negotiations during which Russia issued demands that were tantamount to Ukraine’s complete capitulation.
Medinsky also reiterated Putin’s longstanding demands that any resolution to the war must result in regime change in Ukraine and restrictions on NATO.
Reported Kremlin instructions to Russian media explaining how to cover the Istanbul negotiations indicate that the Kremlin is preparing the Russian population for a longer war in Ukraine and is not interested in engaging in good-faith negotiations that require compromises from both sides.
Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced near Lyman, Novopavlivka, and Velyka Novosilka.
Source: ISW