Donald Trump (L) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin arrive to attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018.
Yuri Kadobnov | Afp | Getty Images
Hopes that Ukraine and Russia’s leaders would meet for peace talks in Turkey on Thursday were dashed as the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and his White House counterpart Donald Trump opted to skip the trip.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had come under pressure from Trump to participate in talks in Istanbul, but had said he would only do so if the Russian president was present.
Russian President Putin had signaled last Sunday that he was willing to hold “direct negotiations” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “without any preconditions” in Istanbul this week.
The Russian leader had not confirmed if he would attend the talks in person, however, and Putin’s name was notably absent when the Kremlin confirmed the delegation it would be sending to Istanbul late on Wednesday evening.
The Kremlin had been coy on whether the Russian president would attend the talks, with Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov sidestepping reporters’ questions on the topic. When asked on Wednesday if Putin would be travelling to Turkey, the spokesperson responded that the president had “work meetings” instead.
Peskov was emphatic on Thursday, however, giving a straight “no” when asked if Putin would be attending the talks.
The Russian delegation is being led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, as well as senior military official Igor Kostyukov. Despite Putin’s absence, the Kremlin said the president had, nonetheless, held a late night meeting with several top Russian officials to discuss the talks.
After the Kremlin’s announcement, a senior White House official told NBC News that senior U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would be traveling to Istanbul for talks — while Trump would not be travelling to Turkey.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy had expressed scepticism about the talks this week, commenting on Wednesday that he was still “waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing,” he said on the X social media platform.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 15, 2025.
Mustafa Kamaci/ppo | Via Reuters
Responding to the diplomatic slight as he arrived in Ankara on Thursday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelenskyy said that the delegation of lower-ranking officials that Russia had sent to Turkey showed Moscow wasn’t serious about talks.
“The level of the Russian delegation is not known officially to me but from what we see, it looks like not a serious level. We will consider our actions and what our next steps will be after the conversation with President Erdogan,” he said.
“We must understand the level of the Russian delegation and what mandate they have – whether they are even capable of making any decisions on their own, because we all know who actually makes decisions in Russia,” he added.
Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian delegation to Turkey included his foreign minister and military intelligence and presidential officials.
Kyiv had come under pressure to participate in discussions after Trump on Sunday said that Ukraine should agree to meet Russia “immediately.”
“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
“If it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!” Trump said he was “starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin” before exclaiming, “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”