Medinsky and Umerov held a bilateral meeting before the start of negotiations between the delegations

The heads of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Vladimir Medinsky and Rustem Umerov, held a bilateral meeting before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul on June 2, a source told Izvestia.

"This predetermined the effective course of further negotiations," the source said.

The meeting lasted 2.5 hours.

The same, in the same place: the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul

Following the meeting, the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, made a statement.

The second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul ended earlier in the day. According to a source in Izvestia, they lasted more than an hour and were broadcast in Russian.

After the talks, Medinsky said that Ukraine and Russia had agreed on the largest exchange of prisoners of war since the beginning of the special military operation, which would include at least 1,000 people from each side. In addition, the Russian side suggested that Ukraine declare a two– or three-day truce in certain sectors of the front to collect the bodies of the dead.