US President Donald Trump has offered to detour from his Middle East trip to visit Turkey if it will persuade his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to show up for talks aimed at reaching a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would travel to Turkey on May 15 to meet with Putin in person after the Russian leader called for direct talks - but did not specifically say he would meet with Zelensky - on reaching a ceasefire agreement.
But less than a day before the scheduled talks, Putin has yet to confirm his participation, while Zelensky said he would meet only with the Russian leader, not with a delegation of officials from Moscow. Russian media reported that such a delegation would be led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"I don't know if he [Putin] would be there if I wasn't there," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One today as he flew from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.
"I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I would consider it," he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that the offer for talks still stands, but that Moscow will announce the composition of its delegation as soon as Putin "gives the order."
"The Russian delegation will wait for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul," Peskov said.
Zelensky is scheduled to hold talks with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, but he said that if Putin decides to leave and travel to Istanbul, they could meet there.
Russian independent political scientist Natalya Shavshukova told Radio Free Europe's Current Time program that Putin's real motivation is to meet with the American leader, which would allow him to travel to Turkey.
"Putin's only interest is a direct meeting with Trump... And Ukraine has become an excuse for the two leaders to meet," Shavshukova said, adding that Putin does not currently seem interested in concluding a peace agreement with Ukraine.
But with less than a day left before the planned talks, Putin has yet to confirm his participation, while Zelensky said he would meet only with the Russian leader, not with a delegation of officials from Moscow. Russian media reported that such a delegation would be led by Lavrov.
In an interview with Le Monde, Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said that if Putin is not present in Turkey on May 15, it will signal that "Moscow does not want peace and is not ready for serious negotiations."
"We don't trust Russia... But we want to end this conflict and we are ready to accept any format of negotiations," he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha has already arrived in Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, where NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will chair an informal meeting of foreign ministers from the military alliance.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in Turkey for a meeting, along with senior US envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, who are expected to be present at the peace talks in Istanbul.
Earlier, on May 15, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that Sibiha had asked his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira to ask Putin if he was ready to conclude a peace agreement.
"I will try to talk to Putin," Lula said at a news conference during a visit to China, saying he could stop by Moscow if necessary.
"It costs me nothing to say, 'Hey, Comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate,'" he said.
Last week, Trump demanded that Ukraine "immediately" hold direct talks with Russia to end the war, ignoring Kiev's call for a ceasefire before any negotiations.
Trump vowed to end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House. But the goal has proven elusive since he was sworn in on January 20.
Russia has launched a series of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks amid pressure for a ceasefire.
Artem Kobzar, acting mayor of the city of Sumy, said that two people were killed and two were wounded in such attacks on May 14 in the Sumy region of Ukraine.
According to the regional military administration, Russian forces carried out nearly 140 attacks on 36 settlements in 16 territorial communities in the Sumy region during the day.
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