The US, Ukraine and Russia are preparing for talks in Istanbul on Thursday aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, with US President Donald Trump suggesting he might attend the negotiations in the Turkish city.
The level at which talks will be held remained unclear on Wednesday, or whether there would be a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The US is sending senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, marking some of the most high-level representation in negotiations on ending the war, which entered its fourth year in February. Mr Trump said they would be joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Our people are going to be going there. Marco is going to be going there. Others are going to be going, and we'll see if we can get it done,” Mr Trump said during the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Mr Trump said he may also join the talks, believing that Mr Putin would only attend if he was there.
“He’d like me to be there, and that’s a possibility. I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out,” Mr Trump said aboard Air Force One en route to Qatar, according to Reuters.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he welcomed talks to end the war, although Ankara has not provided details of when or where a meeting might take place. Washington's decision to send high-ranking officials to the talks suggests the US is serious about brokering a truce.
Mr Trump has attempted to mediate between Ukraine and Russia after beginning his second term in January. Mr Rubio held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and with Mr Zelenskyy during separate meetings in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh earlier this year.
Mr Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, saying he wanted to find a way to “eliminate the root causes of the conflict” and “achieve the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace”.
On Tuesday night, Mr Zelenskyy said that his team is, “actively preparing for a visit to Turkey” and said calls for “direct negotiations at the highest level are equally important”.
Mr Zelenskyy has said repeatedly in recent days that he would be ready to meet Mr Putin in person. On Tuesday, he said he would meet Mr Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday and could travel on to Istanbul if Mr Putin comes to the city.
“We will wait for the meeting with Putin in Turkey. So that Russia does not manipulate the cities and does not say that Putin is not ready to fly to Ankara, but is ready to fly only to Istanbul, I want to say right away: if Putin flies to Istanbul, and not to the capital, I have sent a signal to President Erdogan, and the Turkish side is ready for Erdogan and I to fly to Istanbul,” Mr Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv.
“Putin is the one who determines everything in Russia, so he is the one who has to resolve the war. This is his war. Therefore, the negotiations should be with him,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a briefing on Tuesday that Russia was “moving forward with preparations for the talks that are expected to take place on Thursday”.
Russia and Ukraine have widely diverging views on what a ceasefire deal might look like, and it is not clear whether even direct talks in Istanbul might be enough to secure an agreement. Russia wants recognition of its sovereignty over four areas of Ukrainian territory and for Kyiv to drop its ambitions to join Nato. Kyiv wants the exact opposite: a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory and the possibility of joining the security alliance remaining open.
Nato ministers are due to gather in the Turkish resort city of Antalya on Thursday and Friday for an informal meeting.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said he was “in close contact with all the main actors” in the Ukraine talks.
However, it would be “difficult for me to decide what will happen in the next 24-48 hours”, he told Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
