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What happened in Ukraine war on 2 June 2025?
Summary
A retrospective on the Istanbul talks, a prisoner exchange deal and the aftermath of a weekend of strikes and drone operations.
What did diplomacy achieve on 2 June 2025, a day that followed a weekend of intense fighting? Russia and Ukraine held further negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, and agreed on a prisoner of war exchange.
Officials confirmed that all sick and severely wounded prisoners of war would be exchanged, along with those younger than 25. The two sides also exchanged ceasefire proposals during the talks.
The day before
The negotiations came after events on 1 June 2025. Russia launched the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, comprising 472 drones and seven ballistic missiles.
On the same day, a Russian missile strike on a training camp in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast killed twelve Ukrainian servicemembers and injured 60 more. The commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, Mykhailo Drapatyi, submitted a resignation request following the incident.
Also on 1 June, Ukraine said that at least 40 Russian warplanes, including several strategic bombers, had been destroyed or damaged by drone attacks on four air bases in Russia. The operation was known as Operation Spider's Web. It was later described as a covert drone attack carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine deep inside Russia, using drones concealed in and launched from trucks on Russian territory, and targeting Long-Range Aviation assets at five air bases: Belaya, Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, Olenya and Ukrainka.
What the talks were about
The Istanbul round took place against the long-running positions of both sides. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has sought recognition of all occupied land as Russian, guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO, curtailment of Ukraine's military and the lifting of sanctions. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has sought a ceasefire, full withdrawal of Russian troops, the return of prisoners and kidnapped Ukrainian children, prosecution of Russian leaders for war crimes, and security guarantees.
The exchange of ceasefire proposals on 2 June 2025 put those competing aims on the table in Istanbul. The concrete result of the day, however, was humanitarian: an agreed prisoner exchange covering the most vulnerable captives and the youngest.
In all, the 2 June talks sat between a weekend of heavy strikes and a covert Ukrainian operation, and produced an agreement on prisoners while both sides set out ceasefire proposals.
