Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ankara on Thursday, May 15, for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ahead of expected peace talks with Russia in Istanbul.
Speaking briefly to reporters near the plane after landing, Zelensky confirmed the Ukrainian delegation had arrived and outlined plans for the upcoming talks.
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He is scheduled to meet Erdogan in the afternoon to discuss Ukraine’s approach to the negotiations. At the same time, Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to meet in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks in more than three years.
Zelensky said Ukraine would be represented at the talks by senior officials from the Foreign Ministry, the president’s office, the military, and the intelligence service. He added that three high-level US representatives would also be in Turkey during the talks.
Even though Zelensky did not list the members of the delegation by name, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasyl Maliuk, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov were seen in video footage from the airfield.
In addition, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andriy Hnatov, was also seen disembarking from the plane with them.
Commenting on the Russian delegation – which is represented at a lower level than even expected in the worst-case scenario – Zelensky described it as a “sham delegation.”
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Ukraine and Russia are set to hold their first direct peace talks in over three years on Thursday, in Istanbul, Turkey. But hopes for a major breakthrough are low as the two sides remain deeply divided and Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided not to attend.
He opted instead to send a lower-level team headed up by a hardline aide who oversaw the failed peace talks in March 2022 in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion.
Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov – who previously led talks with the US – were not included.
On Wednesday, Zelensky called Putin’s absence a sign that Russia is not serious about ending the war. “This is his war,” Zelensky said Tuesday. “Therefore, the negotiations should be with him.”
US President Donald Trump earlier said he would consider attending the talks if Putin did. “If we could end the war, I’d be thinking about that,” he said.
On Thursday, as a Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul for the talks without Putin, Trump said he could still travel to Turkey if the first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine make progress.
“You know, if something happened, I’d go on Friday,” Trump said in Qatar.
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