Public opinion strongly supports Ukraine following a recent prisoner swap, seen as a rare positive amidst ongoing conflict. However, there's skepticism towards Russia's negotiating tactics, perceived as manipulative and demanding Ukrainian submission. The prisoner swap is celebrated as a small but significant victory in an otherwise tense situation, resonating with the public as a hopeful gesture amidst continued hostilities.

Ukraine

Russia

Welcome back to civilization and home heros! I hope they get all the support they need, but am sure they'll get all the love and delicious food they can handle! :)

super__hoser

mon_coeur_

Acrobatic-Cheetah230

I am very surprised russia does this. They are such assholes and murderers. Anyone have a theory? Do they only want meat for the front? Suppress dissent?

PinguPST

Skiddienyc1978

sonofaww2pilot

This is the best type of news! Welcome home heroes!

DataGeek101


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mygallows

None of them have any hair. Is it because of mites in russia, or just some torture technique? None of the people released by russians have any hair ever. Who shaves them? were they given shaving equipment while tortured in russia? I do not think so. I am just thinking out loud. 

People in russia sentenced to gulacs had their teeth removed so they could not end their lives by biting their veins open in their wrists. That is how nice place russia is. I am so glad they are my neighbour. 

For these released people it is the greatest day of their life so far. I truly hope there will be more days like this for them forevermore. Literally released from hell.

moskoviititonripulia

Tholian_Bed

ISTANBUL, May 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine rallied its Western allies on Friday after Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire at their first direct talks in three years, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source said went beyond its previous demands.
Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to end the conflict, delegates from the warring countries met for the first time since March, 2022, the month after Russia invaded its neighbour.


The talks in an Istanbul palace lasted well under two hours, and there was no immediate announcement on whether or when the sides might meet again.
Russia expressed satisfaction with the talks and both countries said they had agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war from each side.


But Kyiv, which wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Trump for a 30-day ceasefire, immediately began rallying its allies for tougher action.
As soon as the talks ended, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a phone call with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland, Zelenskiy's spokesperson said.
Russia's demands were "detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed," a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Moscow had issued ultimatums for Ukraine to withdraw from parts of its own territory in order to obtain a ceasefire "and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions".British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the Russian position was unacceptable and that European leaders, Ukraine and the U.S. were "closely aligning" their responses.

Zelenskiy said robust sanctions should follow if Russia rejected a ceasefire.
Expectations for a major breakthrough, already low, were dented further on Thursday when Trump, winding up a Middle East tour, said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Sanguinor-Exemplar

Russia did not come to the table because they want to be the ones to dictate the conditions, clearly inadmissible by the Ukrainian counterpart who does not want to cede the territories.


They started this summit knowing clearly that Putin would never show up, to turn public opinion, especially American, with "Putin does not want peace" and thus proceed with new European sanctions and the continuation of the (limited) shipment of American weapons. 


The war will continue in a similar fashion, with Ukraine on the defensive and Russia on the attack, until one of the two collapses, either by the army or the economy 

Puzzleheaded-Fan-452

It seems to me that Zelensky and Europe are intentionally speaking to Russia in terms of ultimatums, demanding an immediate ceasefire 'or else..' because they know Russia will always refuse ultimatums.
All in order to manipulate Trump to adapt his stance regarding Russia and see Russia instead of Zelensky as 'obstacle to peace'. 

puppetmstr

If the Ukrainians are still holding out for Crimea at this point- Somewhere in here it becomes a debate about whether the Ukrainians are actually trying to maintain what sovereignty the realistically can, or if they’re intentionally making it an existential conflict in order to put pressure on the West

ttown2011

To the surprise of nobody. Putin has no interest in ending the war. 

The-Jesus_Christ

It was never likely to yield a result. But one could have hoped for a longer engagement, or a timeline for the next talks.

puppa_bear

The only good thing that came out of these “talks” is a potential PoW exchange.
  
The rest is standard russian bullshit.

hexhex

Not surprising. r*ssian scum want to eliminate Ukraine completely

NovelDry3871

America needs to stop signaling that they're leaving if they really want this to end. "If you don't agree to peace, Russia, we'll leave!!" What Russia is saying is that's what they wanted the whole time. 

What America should say is, "We have this mineral deal with Ukraine: we're establishing permanent American men and material in Ukraine that we will defend with the full force of American diplomatic and military power."

The mineral deal should be used like turning Ukraine into a minefield for Russia

Bananaramack

Ukraine “Return our land”

Russia “LOL”

The End

Either-Lab-9246

I thought Trump would have wrapped this up by now?

/s (just in case)

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This is what all of these pro-Russia weirdos always go on about when trying to blame Ukraine. They always shout about there being a peace-deal on the table and USA/NATO veto'ed it. Ofcourse I never believed that but seeing the conditions proves that it was an attempt to subjugate Ukraine. If Ukraine accepted it would've meant stalling the invasion and it happening later when Putin had more "favourable" conditions. More groundwork/propaganda and that might've meant less support from USA and the EU.

Ukraine would've fought no matter what, but what if Putin would've had more time to lure in politicians from the west?

Absolutely ridiculous demands that no nation could accept if it wants to be incharge of its own future. This war was inevitable because of Putin and the russian sheep.

badstuffaround

It was in essence full capitulation.... the amount of rape and murder that the nation would have to then endure would have to be something unimaginable.
Its better to be dead than under russian occupation

johnsmith1234567890x

At the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia offered Ukraine a “peace deal” that resembled a demand for surrender. Among the proposals were reducing the Ukrainian army, no support from the West, and Kyiv's obligation to pay for the restoration of Donbas.

SoftwareExact9359

&gt;Ukraine should reduce its army to 50,000 people, including 1,500 officers (five times less than Ukraine had by 2022).

&gt;Ukraine was offered “not to develop, produce, purchase, or deploy on its territory missile weapons of any type with a range of more than 250 km.” The Kremlin would also reserve the right to ban “any other types of weapons” in the future.

&gt;Recognition of the independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “republics” within the administrative regions of Ukraine

&gt;The lifting of all sanctions, both Ukrainian and international, and the pullback of all international lawsuits filed since 2014

&gt;The authors of the draft demanded “to cancel and no longer introduce any bans on symbols associated with the victory over Nazism

&gt;Also demands for Ukraine to remain "neutral"

Yea fuck all that bullshit..

North_Church

Of course darn Jeffrey Sachs keeps on harping on Napolitano's show about the "derailed" peace deal that "the West"/"stubborn Zelensky" rejected in March 2022.

The incredible amount of willful ignorance conjured because of his daydream of an almighty BRICS alliance...................

imead52

I wonder if they actually just took the 1944 ceasefire document between Finland and USSR and changed the date and parties present...

sebeteus

No 👎 one in the west needed to convince Ukraine to reject that 'deal'. If Zelensky said yes to that his own people would have hung him by his ankles from a light pole and then gone back to filling molotovs. 

Any vatnik who thinks the Brits or US pressured them out of accepting that deal is...well they are a vatnik so we know they are delusional.

Unable_Ad_1260

Shocking? Really? No surprises there it would’ve meant the full capitulation of Ukraine so yeah…

Chrissylumpy21

russia is a disgusting corrupt turd of a terrorist state.

Prestigious-Tree-424

PO0TiZ

Shithole offer from a shithole nation. Was this deal offered the same meeting the Ukrainian delegation was literally poisoned? Russia can take their deal, shine it up with spit, turn that sumbitch sideways, and shove it straight up their candy ass.

huntingwhale

Just like the deal offered to Poland in the 40s, the Hungary, and the Czechoslovakia.

Let’s not forget the Molotov bread baskets, either.

dlafferty

that is so much joke even when it was proposed **before** the invasion with "3 days to Kyiv" in mind

urgdr

I want this to be in the feed of every fucking deluded shithead who said “Boris” or “Biden” tanked the “peace deal”. 

No fucking wonder Ukraine didn’t want this shit talked down their throats. It’s full on vassalage.

Basileus2

Russia does not honor its deals.  Don’t give them the veneer of reapectability

naughtabot

Phillip, King of Macedon, demanded the submission of the Spartans. It would be better to submit to him now, he said, because “If I conquer your city, I will destroy you all.”



The Spartans’ reply to this was just one word: “If.”



Thing is, рutin is no Phillip of Macedon

7_11_Nation_Army

What a pile of poo that was.

Basically, Ukraine had to pay for the damage caused in the Donbass by moscovia.

Ukraine is smart, moscovia supporters are dumb.

Longjumping-Nature70

Simply put, this was propaganda for the Russian population showing that Putin "tried" to offer a peace deal and that the West and Ukraine refused.  Putin knew it would be rejected given how outlandish it was but just wanted to "show" that the West were war mongers and the ones who wanted this war to continue.

Taurius

This was already known when the full scale invasion took place. This is what Russia wants in "negotiations" with Ukraine, for Ukraine to accept all of it's demands, no compromises. No country on Earth would accept such a "deal". I don't know why anyone thinks it's acceptable for Ukraine to lose territory, have a Kremlin puppet installed as president, not join EU and NATO and for the country to have no defence. Those demands are idiotic, yet there are morons like Orban who thinks it's acceptable.

ProUkraine

That wasn’t a deal, it was an ultimatum, fortunately the Ukrainians had the spirit to tell the Orcs to go fuck themselves.

Common-Ad6470

Walcam

The “media” still doesn’t get that Ukraine wants to join NATO they just want to, they don’t want a deal or compromise, they want to join NATO like they want to join the EU.

SpaceCowBoy148

Man I can't wait for Putin to be in the ground.

Gustafssonz

aksalamander

Ill-Maximum9467

IndustrialPuppetTwo

The audacity of Putler and his minions!  Who do they think they are!  Putler must be dealt with as promptly as possible.  He is a menace to society and is better off gone.

musicloverincal

Ukraine will not kiss ruzzian a\*\*es, pootin friends get off!

MarianaValley

Best deal I can offer is Crimea to Russia, and Kaliningrad to NATO. And Russia pays for rebuilding Ukraine. Then they got something for their effort.

povlhp

To the Russian government


Nuts!


His Mightiness


Victory to Ukraine and Victory to the heroes.

His-Mightiness

When the Ukrainians read they’d need to lick putin‘s boots or, alternatively, kiss his ass, they kindly declined.

tjuhl

Reads a lot like the conditions Carthage was forced to accept at the end of the First Punic War.

Paraceratherium

This "peace proposal" has some really strange requests. Ukraine to remain neutral after having part of its land stolen? Ukraine to pay reparations to Donbas? Ukraine to reduce the army to 50,000 (Switzerland has an army three times that size)? 

I really don't know what these Russians are smoking, how would they respond if these ridiculous conditions were presented to them?

Intrepid-Jaguar9175

Sorta like the demands put forward to Serbia by the Austro-Hungarians. Utterly unacceptable.

ohboymykneeshurt

Seriously? What the fuck was Russia thinking? They knew at that moment that Ukraine was going to reduce the so called best army to nothing but prisoners and mobilization of civilians. Putin really is full of himself

redjet06

Recent direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, the first since early 2022, resulted in both countries agreeing to a significant prisoner swap involving 1,000 prisoners each. However, no ceasefire agreement was reached due to Russia's new demands, which Ukraine deemed unacceptable.

Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks and Prisoner Swap

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