Zelensky returns to doing everything to ensure direct conversations with Putin in Türkiye

Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski said he will travel to the capital of Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will be available to direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul on Thursday.

“We will do everything to ensure this meeting occurs,” he told reporters at Kiev’s press conference.

Russia has not yet said who will fly to Istanbul, only that it will be announced “as soon as (Putin) is considered necessary.” Putin has not met and Zellinski has not met since December 2019.

Direct talks between the two countries were held last time in Istanbul, in March 2022, in the first weeks of Russia’s large -scale invasion of Ukraine.

Putin had initially invited direct talks in the largest city in Türkiye “without preconditions”, before Zelinski announced that he would go personally and expect the Russian president to travel as well.

The United States is also expected to send a high -level delegation.

Confirming his visit to Türkiye in a briefing on Tuesday, Zelinski sought to intensify pressure on Russia to respond. The Kremlin has already warned that pressure on Moscow is “useless” and does not respond to warning.

Instead, Russia has sought to focus on a long-term settlement that addresses what Moscow deems “the radical causes” of the war-a set of difficult pre-conditions that were set before the invasion of 2022 and has repeatedly rejected by Kiev.

The Ukrainian leader said that while he was ready to meet Putin in Istanbul, his priority was to secure the ceasefire for 30 days, which he said that all the allies of Ukraine – including the United States – were agreed upon.

Zelinski said he believed that Putin’s offer late at night on Sunday to hold direct talks in Turkey was designed to arrest Kiev, so as not to “interact” or “interact in a negative way to Ukraine.”

US President Donald Trump, who was on a visit to the Gulf, hinted that he could fly to Istanbul himself, “If you think things could happen.”

This appears to be unlikely at the present time, and unconfirmed reports indicate the senior American envoys, Steve Witkeov and Keith Keel, are planning to be in Istanbul a day.

The Kremlin sought to reduce speculation that Putin himself could go himself.

“Russia continues preparations for the negotiations due on Thursday. This is all that can be said now,” said Karimlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Moscow was ready for “responsibility” talks, taking into account “facts” on the ground ” – in a veiled refer to the four regions of Southeast Ukraine that Russia has seized since 2022.

He also repeated Moscow’s initial demands before the invasion to achieve a settlement – Ukraine and its Western allies see this as a warning to coordinate Kiev.

Ryabkov also doubts Ukraine’s ability to adhere to the agreements.

European Union Foreign Policy President Kaja Callas said he would be a good step for Zelinski and Putin to sit and speak, but he added: “I don’t think he dares, Putin.”

Zelinski Putin was also accused of “fear” to meet him. And his chief of staff, Andrei Yermak, said if the Russian leader refuses to go to Istanbul, the “final sign” that does not want to end the war.

The main Allied leaders in Ukraine – the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and France have traveled to Kiev on the weekend to warn other immediate sanctions if Russia did not accept the ceasefire for 30 days.

The European Union is currently working on a package of 17 measures.