As President Trump’s early September deadline for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire agreement looms, the two combatants held talks in Turkey on Wednesday. Prior to the meeting, one Russian official confirmed what many analysts already suspected when he said that the two sides are still “diametrically opposed.” Two previous rounds of talks – on May 16 and June 2 – led to little more than prisoner exchanges and the return of dead bodies. Wednesday’s meeting saw more of the same. Just days before the talks began, the two sides continued to exchange deadly air attacks on each other.

Russian Drones and Missiles Rain on Kiev

On Sunday night, waves of Russian missiles pounded Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities.

Russia launched 450 missiles and drones overnight and into Monday morning, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.

The Ukraine military shot down the majority of the missiles and drones, but 23 struck three locations and debris from intercepted missiles landed in 12 areas. Air raid warnings could be heard across Ukraine and local authorities reported that at least two people were killed and 16 wounded in the attack.

“Russian strikes are always an assault on humanity – in Kiev, a kindergarten caught fire, along with residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian Drones Attack Deep into Russia

Seemingly emboldened by a recent and surprising agreement by the US and NATO to send more weapons to Ukraine, Zelensky ordered the targeting of Moscow with long-range weapons for the past two weeks.

Russian air defenses downed 13 drones approaching Moscow on Saturday, and Ukrainian drones disrupted traffic in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, according to Russian government officials.

Two days later, Russia claimed to have shot down 74 Ukrainian drones with a third of them happening near Moscow. A fire at Kamenolomny station in the Rostov region, likely the result of a drone attack, caused delays to train services in the Caucasus.

In addition, Ukrainian drones attacked a factory in the Moscow region that produces MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighters. The Ukrainians claimed that their drone strike hit a Russian anti-aircraft missile factory.

The fireworks continued the following day, when Ukraine reportedly blew up a gas pipeline in Khanty-Mansiysk 1,900 miles from Moscow. This critical pipeline supplies military production facilities in the region.

Drone Production Booming

As both Russia and Ukraine lean more heavily to the use of drones to execute air attacks against each other, defense manufacturers in the two adversary nations are seeing their businesses flourish.

This economic growth also benefits defense contractors in Europe and the US who partner with companies in the Ukraine that build drones and other defense articles.

On Saturday, Zelensky said that Ukraine had entered deals with European allies and a US defense company to build “hundreds of thousands” more drones this year. He also said that Ukraine and Denmark agreed to co-produce drones and other weapons on Danish soil.

Across the battle lines, Russia also plans to step up its drone production. According to a senior German Air Force strategist, Russia will seek to build up its forces in order to achieve attacks of more than 2,000 drones in one day – more than twice than the number it can launch today in a single day.

Ceasefire Talks End in Forty Minutes

In a mere 40 minutes, Moscow and Kiev agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners of war each during the Istanbul peace talks in Istanbul, according to a Russian negotiator.

In addition to the POW exchange, Russia also offered to hand Ukraine the bodies of 3,000 killed soldiers.

"Continuing the exchange of prisoners of war, we have agreed that at least 1,200 additional prisoners of war will be exchanged on both sides in the near future," the negotiator said at a post-meeting press conference.

The negotiator also said that Russia offered Ukraine a 24-hour to 48-hour ceasefire, but no final agreement had been reached.

The Ukrainian delegation head proposed a meeting between Zelenskyy, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by the end of August. However, the Russian delegation's leader stood by earlier Kremlin statements that Russia and Ukraine must make substantial progress toward an agreement before Putin and Zelenskyy can meet.

Until then, the drones and missiles will likely continue to fly.

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