Trump mulls Istanbul trip for Russia-Ukraine peace talks
The US President, Donald Trump, is considering travelling to Istanbul, where Russian-Ukrainian talks will occur. "I don't know where I'll be on Thursday, I have so many meetings, but I actually thought about flying there," he said.
What do you need to know?
- On 15 May, Russian-Ukrainian talks are scheduled to take place in Istanbul.
- The US President, Donald Trump, does not rule out his presence.
- "I don't know where I'll be on Thursday, I have so many meetings, but I actually thought about flying there," he told reporters.
"I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I am going be on Thursday, I’ve got so many meetings … There’s a possibility there I guess if I think things can happen," Donald Trump said in a conversation with reporters at the White House.
He indicated that achieving an agreement has been impossible thus far because "they couldn’t get a meeting because one said ceasefire, one said no ceasefire, [it] was going back and forth."
"I said: Look, at this point we got to stop it. Just go to the meeting. The meeting has been set. Go to the meeting on Thursday,'" he remarked.
He stated that his presence would be possible if he "thought it would be helpful." - "I don’t know where I’m going to be at that particular point, I’ll be someplace in the Middle East, but I would fly there if I thought it would be helpful," he said.
Talks in Istanbul
On 15 May, expert-technical talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place in Turkey.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, expects Russia to agree to a complete and permanent ceasefire. He announced that he would be waiting for Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday.
The leaders of Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have called on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, threatening sanctions.
