Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be taking part in the direct Moscow-Kyiv peace talks he himself proposed on May 11.
The talks could have been the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, since Russia began its large-scale invasion in 2022.
On Sunday, Putin floated the proposal of having face-to-face talks with Ukraine in Istanbul this Thursday, stressing that they should do so "without any preconditions." By late Wednesday, however, the Kremlin stated that the Russian delegation would be headed not by Putin himself, but by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin.
Subsequent to this announcement, one of America's officials also testified that President Donald Trump would not be taking part in the peace talks.
As much as Putin stayed away, Kremlin's aide Yury Ushakov promised that the talks with Ukraine remain scheduled to commence on Thursday. According to reports from TASS, the Russian side plans to approach both political and technical issues in the talks. With the Russian and American presidents' absence, expectations for making any major breakthrough in the war that Russia launched in February 2022 have accordingly been toned down.
A Ukrainian official had announced that President Zelenskyy was on his way to Turkey, and in a public call-out, had challenged Putin to attend the negotiations "if he's not afraid," appearing to try to show Trump who is more interested in peace. Previously, Zelenskyy had said he would only participate in the negotiations if Putin was there.
President Trump has urged the two parties to sign a 30-day ceasefire to stop the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. Furthermore, a Russian legislator said on Wednesday that there could be negotiations over a major prisoner of war exchange.
While Zelenskyy favors an immediate 30-day ceasefire, Putin demands that negotiations should start first to finalize the terms of such an agreement.
A Ukrainian diplomatic source informed Reuters that Ukraine's leadership will plan their next actions for the peace talks in Turkey after there is a clear understanding of Putin's involvement.
The US delegation going to Turkey comprises Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top-level envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg.
Early Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with Rubio to discuss Zelenskyy’s vision for peace and to “coordinate positions during this critical week,” as he put it.
The last direct negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials took place in Istanbul in March 2022, roughly a month after Putin deployed tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what he terms a "special military operation."
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