DELEGATIONS from Russia and Ukraine ended their latest peace talks Monday in Turkey after just over an hour, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian media said.

Speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, Mr Zelensky said both sides “exchanged documents through the Turkish side, and we are preparing a new release of prisoners of the war.”

Moscow and Kiev have agreed to a ceasefire in certain areas so that commanders can collect the bodies of their soldiers.

Kiev officials said a surprise drone attack on Sunday destroyed more than 40 warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia, including the remote Arctic, Siberian and Far East regions more than 4,300 miles from Ukraine.

The unprecedented raid, which struck simultaneously in three time zones, took over a year-and-a-half to prepare and was “a major slap in the face for Russia’s military power,” said Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Ukrainian security service who led its planning.

Russia on Sunday fired the biggest number of drones — 472 — at Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine’s air force said, in an apparent effort to overwhelm air defences. 

In the aftermath of those strikes, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan chaired the peace talks at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace, a residence dating from the Ottoman empire.

The talks aim to discuss both sides’ ceasefire terms, he said, adding that “the whole world’s eyes are focused on the contacts and discussions you will have here.”

The Ukrainian delegation was led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, while Vladimir Medinsky, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, headed the Kremlin team.

Recent comments by senior officials in both countries indicate they remain far apart on the key conditions for stopping the war.

A round of renewed direct talks, held May 16, also in Istanbul, ended after less than two hours. While both sides agreed on a large prisoner exchange, there was no breakthrough.