Delegations from Ukraine and Russia traveled to TürkiyeThursday for peace talks, but while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was present, his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, stayed away.
Zelenskyy said the Russian delegation appeared to be merely “decorative.” Speaking at the airport in the Turkish capital, Ankara, he said the next steps for talks would be decided after his upcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, will lead the Russian team that will also include three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks in Istanbul.
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy challenged the Russian leader to meet in person in Turkey to talk about ending the more than three-year war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not surprised that Putin was a no-show in Turkey. Trump had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but brushed off Putin’s apparent decision not to attend.
“I didn’t think Putin could go if I’m not there,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters as he took part in a business roundtable with executives in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.
Also in the Ukrainian delegation were Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and the head of the Ukrainian presidential office,e Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian official said.
“Now, after three years of immense suffering, there is finally a window of opportunity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a NATO meeting taking place separately in Turkey. “The talks in Istanbul hopefully may open a new chapter.”
But Zelenskyy will sit at the table only with Putin, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said.
