The third round of talks in Istanbul lasted 45 minutes. The positive result is that they did not break off. The Turkish delegation first met with the Ukrainians, then with the Russians. The heads of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Medinsky and Umerov, held a bilateral meeting at the Chiragan Palace. The meeting was private, according to a source from the Russian Military People’s Party. Bloomberg reported that Umerov’s face-to-face meeting with Medinsky did not take place. The heads of the Ukrainian and Russian delegations held a trilateral meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to exchange not only military personnel, but also civilians – TASS source. The Ukrainian side has proposed that the Russian side hold a meeting between Putin and Zelensky by the end of August, Umerov said.
Medinsky: “All agreements on humanitarian issues reached during the second round of talks in Istanbul have been respected. The 250-for-250 prisoner exchange is nearing completion on the Ukraine-Belarus border. We have returned more than 7,000 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to the Ukrainian side. We have proposed forming three working groups that will work online: on political, humanitarian, and military issues. We have again proposed that the Ukrainian side consider declaring short ceasefires on the front lines to collect the wounded and the bodies of their own soldiers.” In the previous round of meetings, the Ukrainians did not accede to this request.
Medinsky also: “An exchange of at least 1,200 servicemen will take place in the near future. We have offered Ukraine the handover of another 3,000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen. The issue of the return of civilians displaced by military action has been discussed with Ukraine.” According to the Russian delegation: “Not all residents of the Kursk region ‘evacuated’ by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to Ukrainian territory have been repatriated; there are about 30,” Medinsky said. “The reason why civilians from the Kursk region are being held in Ukraine is unclear,” he noted.
“Russia has processed the entire list of 339 names of Ukrainian children: some of them have already returned to Ukraine. Work is underway on the others,” Medinsky said. “If their parents, relatives, and representatives are found, they will return home. ‘Children are sacred to us,'” he added. “Most of the children on the Ukrainian list have never been to Russia; 50 names turned out to be adults, not children.”
“A possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky must be carefully prepared; Moscow has communicated this position to Kiev. The conciliation agreement must be discussed before the leaders of the Russian Federation and Ukraine can meet,” Medinsky said.
“Ukraine does not intend to hand over civilians or children to Russia as part of the exchange, but wants to receive them,” the deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated. At least 1,200 military personnel will be exchanged in the near future, Umerov said.
Following talks with the Russian delegation, the Secretary of the National Research Council (NSDC) stated that the exchanges will continue.
Ukraine will not receive the Patriots announced by Trump before spring 2026, the German newspaper Spiegel reports. According to the publication’s sources, the first system will be available no earlier than eight months, after which Germany will be able to receive the battery, which was originally supposed to be sent to Switzerland. “The delivery of all the others will take even longer,” Spiegel concludes. The United States has approved the sale to Ukraine of equipment for repairing Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, as well as the HAWK Phase III air defense system, worth $322 million, according to the Pentagon.
Poland has completed construction of a “Electronic barrier” on the border with Belarus: a monitoring system with video surveillance and motion sensors. The announcement was made live by Polish Interior Ministry chief Tomasz Siemoniak on TVN24.
Thousands of people took to the streets in Kiev to protest Volodymyr Zelensky’s persecution of NABU and SAP, Ukrainian publication Public News reported. According to Ukrainian media, similar protests are also taking place in other cities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “by discussing a leaders’ meeting, Kiev is trying to put the cart before the horse.” The Kremlin did not expect a breakthrough from the third round of negotiations with Ukraine, Peskov said. At the same time, he emphasized that Russia’s agenda in these negotiations is aimed at substantive work. He noted that a discussion of a possible Russia-Ukraine summit will be possible after the substantive work is completed. The presidential spokesman added that the discussion of a number of humanitarian issues during the talks is worth considering, as is Russia’s proposal to create online working groups. Khinshtein signed a decree to pay 195,000 rubles to residents of the Kursk region forced to flee their homes due to material damage caused by Ukrainian attacks. Federation Council Chairman Matviyenko stated, “Russia will ensure that Ukraine never poses a threat again.”
And now a look at the front line, updated at 3:30 PM on July 24. Ukrainian forces attacked Sochi at night with an aerial drone. The head of the Sirius administration in the Krasnodar Krai reported that an oil depot was hit. In the Adler district of Sochi, debris from a drone fell on Aviatsionnaya Street, killing one person and seriously injuring another. Late in the evening, two drone strikes in Crimea and Sevastopol were repelled; the city governor reported that debris fell on Nash Parus beach and on the grounds of a school in Kacha. An attack was reported in Genichesk, in the Kherson region.
Russian forces struck targets in Odessa and Cherkasy, reportedly in a combined missile and drone attack. In Odessa, the famous Privoz market caught fire. Explosions were also reported in the Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions.
In the Bryansk region, Ukrainian forces struck with drones in the village of Lemeshovka, Sevsky district. Three civilians were injured.
Toward Sumy, units of the Northern Group of Forces have liberated the village of Varachyne in the Sumy region. Fierce fighting is ongoing in the Kondratovka area and in Yunakivka. To maintain its positions in Yunakivka, the enemy is constantly transferring reserves. Furthermore, today, the enemy launched two unsuccessful counterattacks near Andriivka.
In the Belgorod region, five villages are under shelling.
Toward Kostyantynivka, Russian forces are advancing north of Yablunivka, near Oleksandro-Kalynove and Poltavka. Russian forces are breaking through near Shcherbynivka and Bila Hora.
Toward Pokrovsk, fighting is taking place in the Udachne area, behind Zvirove, and near Novoukrainka. On the right flank, the Ukrainians are welcoming the advance of Russian forces, which are advancing west of Fedorivka.
On the Zaporizhia front, positional battles are underway in the Shcherbaky and Stepove areas; Russian units have improved the situation in the Plavni area and are conducting active combat operations in the direction of Stepnohirsk.
Graziella Giangiulio
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