Delegations from the warring sides met for barely an hour and agreed to exchange more prisoners of war - focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded - and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.

Officials from Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on Monday failed to reach a ceasefire but agreed to exchange more prisoners.

After Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian air bases, the two sides talked for about an hour in Istanbul, and a halt to the fighting seems out of reach for now.