Zelenskyy Travels To Turkey For Peace Talks With Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Tuesday that he will travel to Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday for direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, if he agrees to attend.
The meeting, brokered with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, comes amid growing international pressure to end the more than three-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
However, Putin is yet to confirm his participation, and Russia has also failed to commit to Thursday’s talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say whether Putin would travel to Ankara or Istanbul (both in Turkey), stating only that “as soon as the president considers it necessary, we will make an announcement.”
Russia has previously said it is willing to send a delegation to Istanbul without preconditions.
However, speaking with reporters in Ukraine, Zelenskyy made it clear that he expects to negotiate directly with Putin, not lower-level Russian officials.
“I will be in Ankara waiting. If he wants to meet in Istanbul, we will go there. But if Putin does not come, it will prove he has no intention to end this war,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader emphasised that only Putin can make the decision to halt the fighting and urged Western leaders to follow through with tougher sanctions if the Russian president fails to appear.
Zelenskyy also dismissed Russian claims that a 2022 decree prohibits him from engaging with Putin, calling it “pure propaganda.”
The United States and European leaders have ramped up pressure on both sides to negotiate. U.S. President Donald Trump, who is currently on a Middle East tour, has encouraged both leaders to attend the Ankara meeting but has not confirmed whether he will join.
Zelenskyy on Monday extended an invitation to Trump, saying his presence would add weight to the talks.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz emphasized the urgency of the talks, saying in Berlin, “We are waiting for Putin’s agreement. If there’s no real progress this week, Europe must move toward significantly tougher sanctions, especially in the energy and financial sectors.”
Despite ongoing hostilities, Russia has signaled openness to talks, though it continues to dispute Zelenskyy’s legitimacy, claiming his presidential term expired last year. Ukraine has not held elections due to martial law.
The two leaders have only met once before, in 2019. Earlier attempts by Zelenskyy to secure direct dialogue were rejected by Russia, especially after their 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy Travels To Turkey For Peace Talks With Putin is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
