Zelensky in Turkey for Russia peace talks

“So, sadly, one more instance of intransigence. But we hope they will see the light and then the meat grinder of Ukraine and the conflict on the Eurasian landmass can be stopped.”

Gorka insisted Putin would eventually “take that step” of meeting Zelensky.

Russian forces took control of the settlements of Novooleksandrivka and Torske in eastern Ukraine, the RIA Russian state news agency reported on Thursday, citing the defence ministry.

President Zelensky has described the Russian delegation of low-level officials, due to meet Ukrainian officials in Istanbul for peace talk, as “decorative”.

“Let’s see if they have a mandate to make decisions,” he told reporters as he stepped of his plane in Ankara.

Zelensky also confirmed he would only decide on the negotiations’ next steps after meeting with President Erdogan.

President Zelensky has described the Russian delegation of low-level officials, due to meet Ukrainian officials in Istanbul for peace talk, as “decorative”.

“Let’s see if they have a mandate to make decisions,” he told reporters as he stepped of his plane in Ankara.

Zelensky also confirmed he would only decide on the negotiations’ next steps after meeting with President Erdogan.

Ukraine’s delegation is ready to discuss a possible 30-day ceasefire in Istanbul, the Kyiv-based Suspilny media outlet has reported, citing a source.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Kyiv’s negotiators would only discuss a truce rather than a broader peace deal, after President Putin snubbed a proposed summit with President Zelensky. Putin has previously rejected European and US calls for a ceasefire.

In Russia, the foreign ministry has said its delegation “received instructions to focus on long-term peace in Ukraine”, without mentioning a short term ceasefire.

It would appear Moscow and Kyiv’s demands remain far apart.

President Zelensky has arrived in Ankara, the Turkish capital, before a meeting with President Erdogan.

The Ukrainian leader would make a decision on how his delegation in Istanbul should proceed with peace talks only after meeting with Erdogan, it is understood.

There is now confirmation from the Russian foreign ministry that the peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul will not begin until the “second half of the day”.

The ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said they had been postponed at the request of Turkish officials.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, has just confirmed President Putin would “definitely not” attend peace talks in Turkey. His absence had been assumed after Putin’s name was missed off a list of Russian officials due in Istanbul today.

Putin’s decision to send junior officials instead foreclosed the possibility of any breakthrough, Western diplomats have said.

By naming Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister, as head of the delegation, they say Putin has indicated that he is unwilling to budge and is seeking the same objectives as in 2022: the end of Ukraine as a sovereign state that is able to defend itself.

While the members of Ukraine’s delegation in Istanbul have not been officially confirmed, the Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilny said it would include Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister, Rustem Umerov, the defence minister and the head of the president’s office, Andrii Yermak.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky is expected to meet President Erdogan at about 11am UK time in Ankara.

President Putin is not known to be a gambling man, but his decision to dodge a summit with President Zelensky in Istanbul was a risky throw of the dice that could wreck the Kremlin’s relations with President Trump.

Yet it also underlines Putin’s desire to keep on fighting in Ukraine, whatever the cost.

It was, in truth, unlikely that even face-to-face talks between Putin and Zelensky in Turkey would result in a sustainable ceasefire, let alone an agreement to end the war, the biggest conflict in Europe for 80 years.

• Read in full: Putin’s Istanbul peace talks snub will test Trump’s patience

With all eyes on Turkey today, it is clear President Erdogan is keen to position himself as a peacemaker and international statesman.

As a Nato member with strong ties to both Moscow and Kyiv, the country occupies a rare space for dialogue with both warring sides and the US. Local pro-government media have praised Erdogan’s diplomacy, with headlines declaring Turkey a “guarantor of peace” and “indispensable to global stability”.

Recent polling shows Turks increasingly view his international influence as a key strength.

It comes at a good time for the Turkish leader, who may be looking to distract the public’s attention from domestic affairs. The arrest and jailing of Erdogan’s main political rival, the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, prompted the largest protests in a decade in March and April over what critics called a politically-motivated and anti-democratic crackdown.

The US and Europe are preparing further sanctions on Russia’s energy and financial sectors, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said on Thursday as he met his Nato counterparts in Antalya.

He posted on X: “The message is clear: ceasefire now — no conditions. If Russia continues, it chooses isolation and massive sanctions.”

His comments were echoed by Elina Valtonen, the Finnish foreign minister. “We have one chair empty, which is the chair of Vladimir Putin. So now I guess the entire world has realised that there’s only one party not willing to engage in serious peace negotiations, and that certainly is Russia,” she said.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said Moscow’s delegation was in Istanbul and ready for “serious work”.

This is despite David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, criticising Russia for sending a “low-level” delegation to Turkey.

“We come with one single message to stand by Ukraine and to ensure that we get a just and lasting, enduring peace,” Lammy said in Antalya, where Lammy is meeting his Nato counterparts.

“And of course, we watched closely as we head to these talks, noting the Russian low-level individuals who are coming to represent the Russian side,” added Lammy.

Estonia, an EU and Nato member state that strongly backs Ukraine, said Putin was delivering a “slap in the face” by sending a junior team.

The peace negotiations in Istanbul between the Ukrainian, Russian, and US delegations are not the only high-level diplomatic talks taking place in Turkey.

Around 250 miles east in the Turkish capital Ankara, President Zelensky will meet President Erdogan this morning.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is to hold an informal meeting of Nato foreign ministers in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya. Rubio will be joined in Antalya by Nato chief Mark Rutte.

On the sidelines of the Nato meeting, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, met on Wednesday with Rubio, who is also having separate talks with new German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul.

President Zelensky will make a decision on how the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul should proceed with peace talks only after meeting President Erdogan of Turkey, a senior official told AFP.

“The president is starting his visit with Erdogan in Ankara, and only then will the president decide on the next steps,” the official said.

Zelensky’s plane is thought that have departed from Poland and is expected to land in Ankara at about 9am UK time, Ukrainian media reported. A meeting with Erdogan is believed to be scheduled for 11am UK time.

President Trump said he did not “think it was possible for” President Putin to travel to Istanbul if the US leader was not there as well.

In Qatar, on the second leg of his Middle East tour, Trump was asked about Putin’s absence during today’s peace talks in Qatar. “Why would he go if I’m not going?” Trump responded, according to Sky News.

“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” he continued.

Trump said he was willing to travel to Istanbul for peace talks “if it is appropriate”, adding: “We’d like to see [the war] end and I think we have a chance of doing it.”

There have been conflicting reports over when negotiations will begin. The Russian news agency Tass is now reporting the talks are expected “not in the morning, but closer to the second half of the day”.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation is thought not to be set to arrive in Istanbul until after President Zelensky meets Turkey’s President Erdogan at about 11am UK time, according to Russian broadcaster Zvezda.

Three civilians were killed and six injured in Russian strikes on the Sumy region of Ukraine in the 24 hours ahead of peace talks in Istanbul, according to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Kyiv said from the morning of Wednesday to the morning of Thursday, Russian troops carried out 150 attacks on 41 settlements in the region.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, whom President Trump claimed was planning to travel to Istanbul, said his boss was open to “virtually any mechanism” that would result in a just peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Rubio, speaking ahead of an informal meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Ankara, said the US wanted to see progress made in the “next couple of days”, adding there was no military solution to the conflict.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, met Rubio last night. Sybiha said on X he had “reaffirmed Ukraine’s strong and consistent commitment to President Trump’s peace efforts” in the meeting, adding: “It is critical that Russia reciprocate Ukraine’s constructive steps. So far, it has not. Moscow must understand that rejecting peace comes at a cost.”

President Zelensky will meet President Erdogan of Turkey at about 11am GMT in Ankara today, according to Ukrainian newspaper Stana.

Zelensky will “most likely” not take part in the negotiations, the outlet added.

There has yet to be any official confirmation that the Ukrainian delegation will meet Russian officials in Istanbul.

The head of Nato, Mark Rutte, said he was “cautiously optimistic” for progress towards peace in Ukraine but added that it was up to Russia to take the “necessary next steps”.

“I’m still cautiously optimistic that if also the Russians are willing to play ball, and not only the Ukrainians are doing this … that you could get to some breakthroughs over the next couple of weeks,” Rutte said at a Nato meeting in Turkey on Thursday.

President Putin held a late-night meeting with some of Russia’s most powerful officials to discuss the upcoming peace talks with Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.

A video circulated by Russian media shows Putin at the head of a long table, appearing to begin the meeting.

Among those present was the defence minister, Andrei Belousov, chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, Security Council secretary, Sergei Shoigu, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, as well as spy chiefs and senior Russian commanders.

Despite the flurry of diplomacy and President Trump’s call for a rapid end to the fighting, Moscow and Kyiv’s demands remain far apart.

Moscow has repeatedly insisted that it keep the territory in southern and eastern Ukraine that it annexed in 2022 — despite not having full control over it.

Last year, Putin demanded Kyiv withdraw its forces from parts of those regions as a prerequisite to any peace settlement.

Kyiv has said it will never recognise its occupied territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as Russian — as well as the Crimea peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014.

A Russian delegation has arrived in Istanbul for talks with Ukraine, according to the country’s state media.

The junior delegation is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister who is now a Kremlin aide. He was set to be accompanied by Alexander Fomin, a deputy defence minister.

Both men also took part in unsuccessful talks between the two countries in Istanbul in 2022. Igor Kostyukov, a GRU military intelligence chief, is also in the Russian delegation.

The foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov were not named in the Kremlin’s delegation list.

President Putin has declined to meet President Zelensky as Ukraine and Russia are set to go into their first direct negotiations since a failed effort in the weeks after Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Putin’s absence will diminish the importance of the first talks in more than three years in Istanbul on Thursday.

The Russian leader had proposed holding talks on May 15 in Istanbul as a counter-offer after Ukraine and European nations last week called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.