During the talks, Ukraine proposed holding a summit between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of August, according to National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov,

MOSCOW, RUSSIA | Xinhua | After a brief third round of talks in Istanbul on Wednesday, hopes for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine remain, unsurprisingly, as frail as ever. During the 40-minute talks,

Russia and Ukraine have discussed further prisoner swaps during brief talks in Istanbul, but the sides remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders.