Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will travel to Turkey’s capital Ankara to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will be available for direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul on Thursday.
“We will do everything to ensure that this meeting takes place,” he told reporters in a hastily-arranged briefing.
Russia has not yet said who will fly to Istanbul, only that it would be announced “as soon as [President Putin] deems it necessary”. Putin and Zelensky have not themselves met for five-and-a-half years.
Direct talks between the two countries last took place in Istanbul, in March 2022, in the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Putin had initially called for direct talks in Turkey’s second city “without pre-conditions”, before Zelensky announced that he would go in person and expected the Russian president to travel as well.
The US is also expected to send a high-level delegation.
By confirming his visit to Turkey at a hastily-convened news conference, Zelensky clearly sought to intensify pressure on Russia to respond. The Kremlin has already warned that exerting pressure on Moscow is “useless” and it does not respond to ultimatums.
Russia has instead sought to focus on a long-term settlement that tackles the “root causes” of the war and deals with “realities on the ground”.
However, the Ukrainian leader said while he was prepared to meet Putin in Istanbul his priority was to secure a 30-day ceasefire, which he said all Ukraine’s allies were agreed on.
Zelensky said he believed Putin’s late night offer on Sunday for direct talks in Turkey was designed to catch Kyiv out, so that he would “not react” or “react in a negative way for Ukraine”.
US President Donald Trump, who is on a visit to the Gulf, has hinted that he could fly to to Istanbul himself “if I think things can happen”.
That seems unlikely for now, and unconfirmed reports suggest two senior US envoys, Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, are planning to be in Istanbul on the day.
The Kremlin has sought to dampen speculation that Putin might himself go.
“Russia continues preparations for the negotiations due on Thursday. That’s all that can be said right now,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow was prepared to hold talks “responsibly” but cast doubt on Ukraine’s ability to stick to agreements.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said it would be a good move for the two leaders to sit down and talk, but added: “I don’t think he dares, Putin.”
Zelensky also accused Putin of “being scared” to meet him. His chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said if the Russian leader refused to go to Istanbul it would the “final signal” that he did not want to end the war.
The leaders of Ukraine’s main allies – the UK, Germany, Poland and France – travelled to Kyiv at the weekend to warn of further sanctions if Russia did not accept a 30-day ceasefire.
The European Union is currently working on a 17th package of measures.
