Top US diplomat Marco Rubio expressed low expectations for Ukraine-Russia peace talks scheduled in Turkey, stating a breakthrough would require direct interaction between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until President Trump and President Putin interact directly on this topic,” Rubio said following a NATO foreign ministers meeting in southern Turkey.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine would participate in the Istanbul talks but criticized Russia’s “low-level” delegation, calling it disrespectful to both Trump and Turkish President Erdogan. “No time of the meeting, no agenda, no high-level of delegation – this is personal disrespect to Erdogan, to Trump,” Zelensky stated after meeting Erdogan in Ankara.
The Russian delegation is headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who maintained his team had “all the necessary competencies” and viewed the talks as a “continuation” of failed 2022 negotiations that occurred shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Trump, currently visiting the Middle East, echoed Rubio’s assessment. When asked by the BBC aboard Air Force One if he was disappointed by the Russian delegation’s level, Trump replied: “Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.” He added, “He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there and I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Initially, Trump suggested he might attend talks in Turkey on Friday if “appropriate,” but later indicated he would likely return to Washington instead.
The Istanbul talks were scheduled after Putin proposed direct negotiations on May 15 in response to European leaders and Ukraine calling for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. Zelensky subsequently challenged Putin to meet personally, but the Kremlin confirmed the Russian president would not be among officials traveling to Turkey.
These talks represent the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since unsuccessful efforts in 2022. Russia has signaled it wants to resume discussions from that point, which included demands for Ukraine to become neutral, reduce its military, and abandon NATO membership ambitions โ conditions Ukraine has consistently rejected as equivalent to surrender.
Meanwhile, fighting continues in Ukraine, with Russia claiming the capture of two more villages in eastern Donetsk on Thursday. Moscow now controls approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
UK Defence Minister John Healey urged Ukraine’s allies to “put pressure on Putin” through additional sanctions on Russia to bring him to the negotiating table, following a meeting with German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin.
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