Efforts to end the war in Ukraine are approaching a critical juncture in Istanbul, where President Putin, President Trump and President Zelensky could potentially sit down for a three-way summit on Thursday.
Zelensky has challenged Putin to meet face-to-face in Turkey for the first direct negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. “This is his war,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Therefore, the negotiations should be with him.”
Trump has also said that he could join them if there are indications that a deal could be agreed to end the fighting. Although the Kremlin has said that it would send a delegation it has yet to confirm if Putin would attend.
“I don’t know that [Putin] would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out,” Trump said on Wednesday. “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.”
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Trump is due to be in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday on the last stop of his Gulf tour. However, he said he would be willing to reschedule “to save a lot of lives”. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, is planning to travel to Istanbul, Trump said. “Marco is going and Marco has been very effective,” he said.
Zelensky said that if Putin did not attend “it will look like a complete defeat for him”
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Kyiv has said that Zelensky would refuse to negotiate with any other Russian officials apart from Putin in Istanbul. The two leaders last met in Paris in 2019 for talks on fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed forces and Ukrainian troops.
It is unclear who will represent Ukraine in Istanbul should Putin fail to turn up. “I am waiting to see who will arrive from Russia. Then I will decide what steps Ukraine should take,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that the Russian delegation would be announced “once we receive the relevant instructions from the president”. There have been conflicting reports in Russian media about whether Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, will travel to Turkey.
“If Putin doesn’t come, it will look like a complete defeat for him,” Zelensky told European media outlets. “If I meet him, we must come away with a political victory: a ceasefire, an all-for-all prisoner exchange, or something along those lines.” The Ukrainian leader said he had arranged to meet President Erdogan in Ankara, the Turkish capital, but would be ready to immediately fly to Istanbul for talks with Putin.
Putin has no intention of meeting Zelensky in Turkey, Russian government and foreign ministry sources told the Moscow Times, an independent website that has been banned by the Kremlin. “Zelensky is only suitable for signing a capitulation. Period,” a Russian diplomat said.
However, Moscow is reported to be concerned about upsetting Trump with a no-show. “My colleagues are trying to find a compromise that won’t offend Trump,” a Kremlin-connected official said.
Leonid Slutsky, the leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, said that an all-for-all POW swap could be discussed in Istanbul. He also said that Russia would announce its delegation on Wednesday evening, although there was no confirmation of that from the Kremlin.
Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire, was spotted at a meeting in the Kremlin, leading to speculation that he could be heading to Turkey for the talks. Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea Football Club, has acted as a backchannel between Kyiv and Moscow since the early weeks of the war.
He attended talks in Istanbul in 2022 that broke down after Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and was reported to have also helped to broker a Black Sea shipping deal later that year. Kyiv has said that Abramovich facilitated a large-scale prisoner of war exchange that included the release of five British men who had been taken captive by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2022.
Zelensky said that international mediation, preferably by the US, would be necessary. “The Russians won’t trust us, and we won’t trust the Russians. We must understand the goal of my meeting with Putin. He and I cannot agree on everything right now — that’s impossible. But we must somehow find a format to end the war.”
He warned that the long-term future of Ukraine as a state was at risk if the fighting continued for years. “No one knows how long it will last. But not ten years. Ukraine wouldn’t survive,” he said. “It’s costly for everyone, not only for our friends, but also for our enemies.”
Putin proposed the talks in Istanbul after rejecting a European ultimatum for a 30-day ceasefire. Ukraine initially said it would not attend unless Russia agreed to a truce. However, Zelensky reversed his decision when Trump urged him to go to Istanbul for talks that the US leader said would indicate whether Putin was serious about peace.
Zelensky, President Macron of France and Putin in Paris in 2019 — the last time the Russian and Ukrainian leaders met in person
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Brazil and China, whose leaders are on friendly terms with Putin, issued a joint statement calling for direct talks as the “only way to end the conflict”.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, spoke to Putin by phone on Wednesday and asked him to attend the talks in Istanbul.
Lula “emphasised Brazil’s commitment to peace and once again made himself available to collaborate in whatever way necessary in the search for understanding between Russia and Ukraine,” the statement said.
Russian opposition analysts warned that Putin could be planning to blindside Zelensky by announcing his participation in the talks at the last moment, forcing Trump to also attend and then presenting a peace deal on the Kremlin’s terms.
“If Putin does not come to Istanbul, then ministerial talks will likely end without a result,” wrote the think tank Re:Russia. “[But] if it becomes known that Putin is going to Istanbul, this should be a red flag for Ukraine and the Europeans. Zelensky will have little room to manoeuvre if Putin and Trump show up in Istanbul with an agreement that Trump will demand he sign.”
It is unclear who, if anyone, will represent Ukraine in Istanbul if Putin does not arrive. A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Reuters that Kyiv would decide on its next moves once there was clarity on Putin’s participation.
“Everything will depend on whether Putin is scared of coming to Istanbul or not. Based on his response, the Ukrainian leadership will decide on the next steps,” the source said.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine had refrained from attacking the Victory Day parade in Moscow last week after a request from China. President Xi and Lula were among the world leaders who joined Putin on Red Square for the parade.
In Berlin, Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, pledged not to allow a rift in US-European relations and thanked Trump for his efforts to end the war. Merz has previously called Trump an unreliable ally.
“Such a ceasefire can open a window in which peace negotiations become possible,” he told parliament. “It is of paramount importance that the political West does not allow itself to be divided, and therefore I will make every effort to continue to achieve the greatest possible unity between our European and American partners.”