The United States says Trump and Putin need to penetrate into the Ukraine talks

Marco Rubio, the first diplomat in the United States, says he does not have great expectations for the peace talks to be held between Ukraine and Russia in Türkiye and confirmed that Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin need to meet.

“This is my evaluation because I do not think we will get a penetration here until President Trump and President Putin interact directly with this issue,” said a spokesman after a meeting of ministers abroad in southern Türkiye.

Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine is sending a delegation to meet Russian officials in Istanbul, but accused Russia of not being treated seriously.

Speaking to correspondents in Ankara, the Moscow delegation criticized “low -level”. Its president, Presidential Assistant Vladimir Midinski, insisted that the Kremlin team had “all the necessary competencies.”

Earlier in the day, Trump – who visited the Middle East – also suggested that the great progress in peace talks was unlikely until he and Putin met personally.

In response to a question from the British Broadcasting Corporation on the Air Force one whether he is disappointed by the level of the Russian delegation, he said: “Look, nothing will happen until Putin and meet together.”

“He did not go if I was not there and I did not think that anything would happen, whether you liked it or not, until he and me meet, but we would have to solve it because many people die.”

Trump said he would attend talks in Türkiye on Friday if it was “appropriate”, but he later said he would return to Washington.

Delegations from Turkey, the United States, Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul were scheduled to meet on Thursday for the first face -to -face talks in Ukraine, Russia since 2022. As of Thursday evening, no time has been set for them. Some reports indicate that it may now happen on Friday.

Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks on May 15 in Istanbul in response to a call before European leaders and Ukraine for an unconditional shooting for 30 days.

Zelensky then Putin challenged him to meet him personallyBut on Thursday, the Kremlin said that the Russian president was not among the officials due to travel.

In Ankara, Zelinski accused Moscow of “disrespect” towards Trump and Erdogan because of the Russian delegation’s lack of seniority and his challenge to the Russian leader to meet him personally.

He said: “There is no time for meeting, no agenda, and no high levels of delegation – this is the personal lack of respect for Erdogan, to Trump.”

Meanwhile, Medinski told Istanbul correspondents that Russia saw the talks “continuing” the failed negotiations in 2022, which occurred shortly after Russia launched its full invasion of its neighbor.

“The mission of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is to reach sooner or later to create a long -term peace by eliminating the basic radical causes of the conflict,” Madinensky said.

Istanbul talks indicate the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since the uncomfortable effort in 2022.

The members of the Türkiye delegation in Moscow participated in these talks, and Russia indicated that it wanted to take the place where they stopped.

The conditions under discussion included demands for Ukraine to become a neutral state, reduced its military ambitions and abandon the NATO membership – the circumstances that Ukraine rejected repeatedly as a surrender.

The fighting is fighting in Ukraine, where Russia says its forces have seized two other villages in the eastern Donetsk region on Thursday.

Moscow now controls nearly 20 % of Ukraine, including the southern Crimea Peninsula, which was illegally included in 2014.

UK Defense Minister John Healy called on Ukraine’s allies to “pressure Putin.” Speaking after a meeting with his German counterpart, Boris Pisorius, in Berlin on Thursday, Healy urged more sanctions on Russia “to bring him to the negotiating table.”