BREAKING: Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul end less than two hours in

Editor’s note: This story is being updated.

The Ukrainian and Russian delegations concluded their talks in Istanbul on May 16 after speaking for less than two hours, Sky News reported, citing an unnamed source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Sky News that Russia has made “unrealistic” demands that go “far beyond anything ever discussed."

Some of these demands include the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from their own territory as a condition for a ceasefire, according to the source.

Moscow has repeatedly demanded Ukraine to retreat from the entirety of four Ukrainian oblasts that President Vladimir Putin claims to have annexed.

The Kremlin illegally declared annexation of the four oblasts – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – following sham referenda in late 2022, incorporating them into Russia’s constitution - in a move that holds no weight internationally.

None of the four regions Russia controls in full.