Russia, Ukraine set for round 2 of peace talks in Turkey; US warns Putin ‘is preparing for more war’ | Top 10 points

Russia and Ukraine are due to sit down for peace talks on Monday in Turkey's Istanbul for their second round of direct peace talks since 2022, a day after 40 Russian planes were destroyed by a Ukrainian drone attack. Meanwhile, Moscow also pounded Ukraine with missiles and drones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is stalling at the peace table while preparing a new military offensive in Ukraine, two senior US senators warned Sunday, arguing that the next two weeks could shape the future of a war that has already smashed cities, displaced millions and redrawn Europe’s security map, an AP report said.

The first round of talks on May 16 yielded the biggest prisoner swap of the war but no sign of peace - or even a ceasefire as both sides merely set out their own opening negotiating positions, a Reuters report said.

Top 10 developments

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would meet with Russian officials in Istanbul, according to a Reuters report. 
   
   The Russian delegation will be headed by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who after the first round invoked French general and statesman Napoleon Bonaparte to assert that war and negotiations should always be conducted at the same time.
2. On Sunday, Ukraine launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and other military bases, the report said. 
3. More than 40 Russian aircraft, including the Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 long-range bombers capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons as well as the A-50, are reported to have been damaged in the operation on Sunday, Bloomberg said, quoting an official in Ukraine’s Security Service on condition of anonymity as the details are not public.
4. In a separate post on Telegram, Zelensky said Ukraine used 117 drones with people operating inside Russia across three time zones, adding that “34% of strategic cruise missile carriers at the airfields were hit.”
5. Earlier on Sunday, Ukraine came under one of the longest barrages from Russian missiles and drones, with air sirens lasting for more then 9 hours. According to the Bloomberg report, at least 12 people were killed in a strike on a military training center, prompting Ukraine Ground Forces Commander Mykhaylo Drapatyi to announce his decision to resign due to the casualties.
6. A military official, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose operational details, said the far-reaching attack took more than a year and a half to execute and was personally supervised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
7. Explosions caused two bridges to collapse and derailed two trains in western Russia overnight, officials said Sunday, without saying what had caused the blasts. In one of the incidents, seven people were killed and dozens were injured, the AP report said.
8. Russia’s main investigating authority has initiated criminal probes after two bridges blew up in regions bordering Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, authorities have classified the incidents as “terrorist attacks,” the country’s Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said Sunday.
9. According to a Reuters report, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed on Sunday prospects of settling the conflict in Russia-Ukraine talks set for Monday. 
10. Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least two people, including a 9-year-old girl, officials said, adding that Kremlin launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, the Ukrainian air force said.

(With inputs from agencies)