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Russian President Vladimir Putin is not one of the names listed by the Kremlin that he should attend peace talks about the war in Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite the calls of Voladimir Zelenski to Ukraine.
Instead, the Russian delegation will be led by Presidential Assistant Vladimir Medinsky, the Kremlin’s statement said.
Earlier, Zelenski had said he would attend the negotiations personally and meet Putin personally if the Russian president agreed and said he would do everything possible to ensure that the face-to-face meeting was held.
US President Donald Trump will also not be present, according to media reports, although he had previously hinted that he would do it if Putin was there.
Zelenski will be in the Turkish capital in Ankara on Thursday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He said he would attend direct conversations in Istanbul with Russia, but only if Putin was also present.
“I’m waiting to see who will come from Russia and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing,” he said in his nightly video address on Wednesday.
Putin and Zelenski have not met in person since December 2019. Russia and Ukraine last negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow began their neighborly invasion of their neighbor.
Since then, battles have been raging in Ukraine. The Russian forces are slowly expanding the amount of territory they have controlled over the last year, in the eastern part of Ukraine.
On Sunday, Putin called for direct conversations between Russia and Ukraine in the largest city in Turkey “Without Declaimed Conditions”. Then Zelenski announced that he would go personally and expected the Russian president to travel.
Putin’s proposal for direct conversations in Istanbul followed the call of Western powers for a 30-day termination of fire after European leaders met in Kiev on Saturday.
After Trump called on Ukraine to accept the offer on Sunday, Zelenski said he would travel there himself.
“There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin in Turks on Thursday. Personally,” Zelenski wrote in a social media publication.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump sailed the opportunity to join the meeting if Putin did.
The US president, who is currently in Qatar, told reporters that he did not know if his Russian counterpart would be present “if I’m not there.”
“I know he would like to be there and this is an opportunity. If we could end the war, I would think about it,” Trump said.
The United States is expected to send a high -level conversation delegation.
The best diplomat in the country, Marco Rubio, arrived in Turkey on Wednesday, where he will meet with NATO foreign ministers on Thursday.
Prior to this meeting, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andry Sibiha said he met Rubio on Wednesday night. Sibiha said he reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to the efforts of peaceful efforts in the United States and called on Russia to “regain Ukraine’s constructive steps.”
Rubio plans to travel to Istanbul on Friday, where the State Department says he will attend conversations with European colleagues to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Arriving at his hotel in Antalya on Wednesday, Rubio did not answer when the BBC asked him if Putin would come to Turkey.
Upon his return to the White House, President Trump tried to overcome the ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
He graduated from a longtime Western boycott of Russia’s leader, talking to Putin in February, and his envoy, Steve Vikof, met with Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow.
Previously, Trump said Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal”.
On Sunday, when Putin offered direct conversations, Trump posted on his social platform for the truth: “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!”