Western media reports say Russia's Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Turkiye yesterday, instead sending a second-tier delegation to planned peace talks, while Ukraine's president said his defense minister would head up Ukraine’s team.
Reuters reports that the head of the Russian delegation, presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, said he expected Ukraine's representatives to turn up for the beginning of discussions on Friday in Istanbul at 10 a.m. local time.
"We are ready to work," Medinsky said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app. He said his delegation had held “productive” talks on Thursday evening with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Zelenskiy said Putin's decision not to attend but to send what he called a “decorative” lineup showed the Russian leader was not serious about ending the war. Russia accused Ukraine of trying "to put on a show" around the talks.
"We can't be running around the world looking for Putin," Zelenskiy said after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
"I feel disrespect from Russia. No meeting time, no agenda, no high-level delegation – this is personal disrespect. To Erdogan, to Trump," Zelenskiy told reporters, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile Russia’s TASS cited the Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov as telling CNN yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not take part in the talks with Ukraine to be held in Istanbul.
Earlier, TASS cited its source as saying that the Russian delegation had arrived in Istanbul. It was noted that the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations might start around 10:00 a.m. local time, but the source specified that the meeting was initially expected closer to the afternoon.
Headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, the Russian delegation also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Igor Kostyukov, the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, according to TASS.
Ukraine backs an immediate, unconditional 30-day ceasefire but Putin has said he first wants to start talks.
Meanwhile, The Hill reports that U.S> President Donald Trump, “who has pushed for ending the three-year conflict, told reporters during a gaggle Thursday that he was not surprised Putin did not show, citing his own absence.”
“I actually said, ‘Why would he go if I’m not going? I would go, but I wasn’t planning to go, and I said, ‘I don’t think he’s going to go if I don’t go,’” Trump was cited as saying.
