During talks, Russian representatives mentioned war with Sweden and threatened to seize other regions - journalist

During talks in Istanbul, the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Russia is ready to continue the war as long as necessary, recalling the long war with Sweden in the 18th century, which lasted 21 years.

According to Economist journalist Oliver Carroll, Medinsky emphasised that Russia was not seeking such a war, but was ready to fight for several more years if necessary.

He recalled that in past centuries Russia fought Sweden for 21 years, noting that this was possible thanks to the support of England and France, and expressed the opinion that without a war with Russia, Sweden could have remained a great power, Carroll wrote.

Medinsky also made a demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from four regions, none of which Russia fully controls, in exchange for a ceasefire. During the talks, the Russian delegation also threatened to seize new territories - Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

After the meeting, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, said that Ukraine and Russia had agreed on a thousand-for-thousand exchange of prisoners of war and also discussed a potential meeting between President Vladimir Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Medinsky said that the Russian delegation was satisfied with the results of the talks with Ukraine and that negotiations would resume after the sides presented their vision of a ceasefire.

According to Barron's, another round of talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul is possible.

If the delegations receive other instructions from Moscow, something may happen yet today," the publication quoted an unnamed senior official as saying.

At the same time, the source noted that so far a new round of negotiations "is not planned".

We will remind, Ukrainian and Russian officials held talks in Istanbul today, 16 May.

According to Axios, the talks lasted a little over an hour. At the same time, the sides failed to make significant progress to end the war.