The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will travel to Türkiye to talk about peace this week with the intention of meeting only with Russian President Vladimir Putin, not Russian officials of the lower level, said a senior Ukrainian official on Tuesday.
Zensky accepted Putin’s surprise proposal for direct negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday, challenging the Russian leader to a face to face.
Putin had floated at the meeting as a counter’s sacrifice to a call backed by the West for a high fire of 30 days, although the Kremlin, apparently caught by Offuard for Zelensky’s proposal to take a walk in person, has not confirmed Wete Turkey.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, who is visiting the Middle East this week, told the White House journalists that he would join the conversations in Istanbul “if he thought it would be useful.”
“This is not a presidential level meeting,” if Putin does not appear, Zensky’s advisor, Mykhaylo Podolyak, told Russian journalist Alexander Plyushchev in a YouTube interview. “There is a decision maker next to Ukraine … and a decision maker in Russia. Everything else is only formalities without results.”
Podolyak said that a lower level “technical meeting” could take place if Putin refuses to attend, but pointed out that doing so would indicate Russia’s lack of will to end the war through direct conversations.
“If Russia is not represented at the highest level, it means that they are not ready to stop the war or negotiate without intermediaries,” he said.
An unidentified Ukrainian official later confirmed to Reuters that Zensky would only meet with Putin on Thursday.
The meeting would mark the first face -to -face contact between the two parties since the Peace Conversations of Istanbul in March 2022, which failed to produce an agreement to end the war.
Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said this week that he is ready to organize the last conversations and urged both parties to take advantage of a “window of opportunity” for peace. China, a key Russian ally, also supported the impulse of an acceptable “binding peace agreement” for all parties.
Putin has said that direct conversations should focus on the “root causes” of the conflict and did not rule out a possible fire that emerges from the Istanbul meeting.
AFP and Reuter contributed to reports.
A message from Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We face unprecedented challenges. The Office of the Attorney General of Russia has appointed Moscow’s times as an “indifferent” organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our previous unfair labeling as a “foreign agent.”
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim that our work “discredits the decisions of Russian leadership.” We see things differently: we strive to provide precise and impartial reports about Russia.
We, the Moscow Times journalists, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly from $2. It is quick to configure and each contribution has a significant impact.
By supporting Moscow’s times, he is defending open and independent journalism against repression. Thanks for being with us.
Continuous
Are you not ready to support today?
Remember me later.
×
Remind me next month
Thank you! Your reminder is configured.
We will send an email of reminder within a month. For details about the personal data we collect and how it is used, see our privacy policy.
