To the surprise of absolutely no one, yesterday’s meeting in Istanbul between the Russian delegation — led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky — and the Ukrainian team — headed by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov — concluded after barely an hour with an agreement to swap 1,200 prisoners of war and for Russia to return the bodies of 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

But no movement toward a ceasefire.

And just hours later, the two countries once again exchanged drone strikes, killing two and injuring another eleven people in the Russian resort city of Sochi, with three killed in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and several injured in Cherkasy and Zaporizhzhia.

In addition, a Russian missile attack struck — not a military facility, as they consistently claim to be targeting — but Odesa’s 200-year-old Pryvoz Market: an historic landmark, and one of the two most popular markets in Odesa.

Ahead of the meeting at Istanbul, Ukraine’s Umerov said that Kyiv’s priority was to organize a meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Putin before the end of August; while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said that they did “. . . not expect a breakthrough. A breakthrough is hardly possible.” [Laura Gozzi, BBC News, July 24, 2025.]

Peskov said further:

“They [Ukraine] are trying to put the cart slightly ahead of the horse,” adding that there was a great deal of work yet to be done before such a meeting could take place. [Id.]

Once again, Putin has made it quite clear that he has no intention of entering into peace negotiations in the foreseeable future. So I’ll say it one more time, in the hope that someone in Washington is listening:

It’s way past time to quit making empty threats, and put a stop to Russia’s war machine, once and for all. What in hell are we waiting for?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/24/25