Putin, Zelensky no-show in Istanbul dims hopes of breakthrough

Ukraine and Russia appear deadlocked over next steps in effort to end the war after President Vladimir Putin rejected a face-to-face meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey. 

The Ukrainian president arrived in Turkey on Thursday and met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, but refused to attend the talks in the Dolmabahçe Palace on the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

Reports said the Russian negotiators sat in Istanbul with no one to talk to on the Ukrainian side.

Putin sent a team consisting of presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who was also involved in the last direct peace talks in Istanbul in March 2022, besides a deputy defense minister, a deputy foreign minister and the head of military intelligence.

On the other hand, the Ukrainians dispatched Defense Minister Rustem Umerov along with the country’s minister of foreign affairs as well as the head of the presidential office.

Zelensky said Putin's decision not to attend but to send what he called a "decorative" line-up reflected a lack of interest from the Russian side to end the war.

"We can't be running around the world looking for Putin," Zelensky said in his meeting with Erdogan.

"I feel disrespect from Russia. No meeting time, no agenda, no high-level delegation - this is personal disrespect. To Erdogan, to Trump," Zelensky told reporters.

The Ukrainian leader craves an immediate, unconditional 30-day ceasefire. However, Putin has said he first wants to start talks at which the details of such a truce could be discussed.

The Russian side remains cautious about the peace talks, citing concerns about the fact that Ukraine could use a pause in the war to call up extra troops and acquire more Western weapons.

Putin proposes direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15 for ‘lasting peace’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for resuming direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, “without preconditions,” seeking a comprehensive, long-lasting peace agreement in place of an armistice that allows Ukraine to rebuild and rearm.

President Putin proposed holding direct talks between Russia and Ukraine “without preconditions” in an attempt “to remove the root causes of the conflict and move towards creating a long-term, durable peace in a historical perspective”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to questions about the possibility of Putin’s participation in the talks with Ukraine at some future point, saying, "What kind of participation will be required further, at what level, it is too early to say now."

Russia seems to have the upper hand in the talks, with its forces now in control of close to a fifth of Ukraine.

Putin has preserved his longstanding demands for Kiev to cede territory, abandon its NATO membership ambitions, and become a neutral country.

Ukraine says the demands by Russia are tantamount to capitulation, while it continues to search for guarantees of its future security from world powers, especially the United States.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Zelensky demonstrated his good faith by coming to Turkey, but there was an "empty chair" where Putin should be sitting.

"Putin is stalling and clearly has no desire to enter these peace negotiations, even when President Trump expressed his availability and his desire to facilitate these negotiations," he said.

Ukraine is counting on the support from the US, but Trump’s overtures to Putin and his administration's sharp rebukes of Europe and Ukraine have dismayed Kiev and its European allies.

"Nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

While insisting on the importance of his active participation in the peace talks, Trump too snubbed the meeting on Thursday and said he would go to the talks in Turkey on Friday if it was "appropriate".

"I just hope Russia and Ukraine are able to do something. It has to stop," he said.

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