Trump conditions Ukraine progress on Putin meeting
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, declared on Thursday that there will be no progress on the matter of Ukraine until he meets with Vladimir Putin.
"Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together," said Trump to reporters on board Air Force One just before landing in Dubai.
The absence of Putin from Thursday's planned Ukrainian-Russian talks in Turkey has weakened the prospects for peace negotiations, according to Reuters.
"Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together, okay? And obviously, he wasn't going to go. He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn't going if I wasn't there. And I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we're going to have to get this solved because too many people are dying," said the American leader, quoted by an advisor to the Ukrainian president's administration, Anton Gerashchenko:
Talks in Istanbul
Talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations are set to begin on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the war. Earlier that day, President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Ankara with the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
During a briefing in Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that the talks in Istanbul were postponed to the latter half of the day at the request of the Turkish side.
A source in the Turkish foreign ministry, quoted by Reuters, said that "Russia said they would take place in Istanbul in the second half of the day, but Turkey said no meeting was scheduled yet."
Russian delegation in Turkey without Putin and Lavrov
The Kremlin announced on Wednesday evening that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not be in Istanbul. His advisor Vladimir Medinsky will head the Russian delegation. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, and the head of the main directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Admiral Igor Kostiukov, will also travel to Turkey.
Previously, President Zelensky stated that he would participate in talks with Russia only if Putin is also there.
