Russia is reeling from Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb last weekend, but it still wants to stall on any mediated peace or ceasefire deal, to buy enough time to launch its summer offensive against Ukraine,

It was already hard to imagine a breakthrough emerging from the direct talks between Russia and Ukraine set to be renewed in Istanbul on Monday.

Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow's invasion in 2022 and days after U.