After months of U.S.-led 'negotiations', Ukraine and Russia are no closer to peace w/ John Helmer

On May 16, 2025, negotiators from Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul for the first high-level peace talks between Russia and Ukraine since the early months of Moscow's 'special military operation', launched in February 2022.

Despite Donald Trump's extravagant claims that the Istanbul talks offered serious prospects for an end to the Ukraine war, the talks in Istanbul ended quickly, and accomplished little.

Russia entered the Istanbul talks under Western threats to impose more sanctions if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire, but after the talks ended with no meaningful progress on ending the war, Trump backtracked on his administration's threat to impose more sanctions on Russia.

Today, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with John Helmer about the drama in Istanbul.

John is the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only Western journalist to direct his own bureau in Moscow, independent of national or commercial ties.

Lascaris and Helmer also discussed the Trump administration's efforts to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran.

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