Marco Rubio, the top US diplomat, arrived on Friday in Istanbul, where, after some confusion and uncertainty, Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to meet face-to-face for the first time since 2022 for ceasefire negotiations.
The confusion was centered on the location and the format of today’s talks following weeks of diplomatic maneuvering among Washington, Kyiv and Moscow just to get everyone anywhere near a negotiating table.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, who originally proposed the talks, will not attend today’s talks. Neither will Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who criticized Putin for sending a “decorative” lineup instead of attending himself.
Negotiations between Rubio and senior Turkish and Ukrainian officials will kick off at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace this morning.
Meanwhile, the Russian delegation, led by chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, will meet separately with the Ukrainians. The US will be represented by the State Department’s Director for Policy Planning Michael Anton.
Today’s meetings also come as President Donald Trump suggested he didn’t expect much progress with current format of the talks, telling reporters yesterday that “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.”
Speaking to Kyiv Post in Antalya, where NATO’s top diplomats had gathered for informal ministerial during the past two days, two Western officials described today’s Istanbul meetings as “either a monumental mess or a very sophisticated, diplomatic game of chess.”
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