News | Russia-Ukraine war
Kremlin declines to say if Putin will
meet Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Istanbul
Donald Trump says there is a ‘possibility’ he will head to Turkiye for talks on Ukraine if Vladimir Putin also goes.
The Kremlin has again declined to say whether President Vladimir Putin will travel to Turkiye for planned negotiations with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid growing international pressure on Moscow to hold direct talks and end its three-year war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Moscow would disclose the makeup of its delegation to Turkiye once Putin gave the order.
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“The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15,” he said.
Peskov said he would provide an update “when we get the relevant instructions from the president”.
“No such instructions have been received yet.”
The planned negotiations, expected to take place on Thursday in Istanbul, Turkiye’s commercial hub, would be the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Turkiye where he said he would hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on either Wednesday or Thursday.
The Ukrainian leader has challenged Putin to meet him in Turkiye, saying if he does not show up, it would show that Moscow is not interested in peace.
He also urged United States President Donald Trump, currently on a tour of Middle Eastern countries, to visit Turkiye and participate in the talks.
Trump on Wednesday said there was a “possibility” he would head to Turkiye for talks on Ukraine if Putin also travelled there.
“I don’t know that he (Putin) would be there if I’m not there,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.
“I know he would like me to be there, and that’s a possibility. If we could end the war, I’d be thinking about that,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is already set to travel to Istanbul on Friday.
“Marco is going and Marco has been very effective,” Trump said.
Lula urges Putin to hold talks
Earlier on Wednesday, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged to press Putin to attend negotiations with Zelenskyy in Turkiye.
Lula is expected to stop in the Russian capital on the way back from attending a regional forum in China.
“I’ll try to talk to Putin,” Lula said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday before his departure.
“It costs me nothing to say, ‘hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit,'” he said.
Lula’s comments come after the Ukrainian foreign minister urged Brazil to use its influence with Russia to secure a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
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