MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump offered Wednesday to head to Turkey for talks on ending the Ukraine conflict, so long as his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin also showed up.
The Kremlin was silent for a third day running on who would represent Moscow at the highly anticipated talks, which would be the first direct peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in more than three years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Putin to meet him in person in Turkey and urged Trump to also come.
Putin himself proposed direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv at the weekend, a counter-offer after Ukraine and Europe called for a 30-day full and unconditional ceasefire.
“I don’t know that he (Putin) would be there if I’m not there,“ Trump told reporters on Air Force One 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’d be thinking about that,“ he said.
Trump noted that he was already scheduled to be in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday on the third and final leg of his Gulf tour.
But when asked about visiting Turkey, he added: “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is already planning to travel to Istanbul on Friday.
“Marco is going and Marco has been very effective,“ Trump said.
Russia said its delegation would be in Istanbul on Thursday.
– ‘His war’ –
Asked by AFP in a briefing on Wednesday who would travel from Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to answer.
“The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15,“ he said.
Peskov added that he would provide an update “when we get the relevant instructions from the president”, but “No such instructions have been received yet.”
Zelensky has urged Putin to come himself, saying that skipping the talks would signal an unwillingness by Moscow to seek peace and should be met with massive Western sanctions and more military aid for Kyiv.
“This is his war,“ Zelensky said Tuesday. “Therefore, the negotiations should be with him.”
Trump took office vowing to end the conflict immediately and had put heavy pressure on Zelensky, whom he berated during a televised White House meeting on February 28.
Since then the Trump administration has voiced frustration with Russia, which has snubbed an offer backed by Ukraine for an initial 30-day ceasefire.
Rubio has repeatedly threatened to give up on Russia-Ukraine diplomacy without progress, saying the United States has other priorities.
Despite the prospect of talks, the two sides’ positions on how the fighting should end remain far apart and there have been few signs either is willing to make concessions.
– ‘Dictated peace’ –
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who in the past criticised the level of Western support for Ukraine, said he would also seek to persuade Putin to negotiate.
“I’ll try to talk to Putin,“ Lula told reporters in Beijing, where he was on a visit after attending the World War II Victory Day parade in Moscow last week.
“It costs me nothing to say, ‘hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit’”.
European leaders have also ramped up their pressure on Putin to come to the negotiating table personally.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday that there must not be any settlement in Ukraine in the form of a “dictated peace” from Moscow.
Addressing parliament, Merz warned of “militarily created facts against Ukraine’s will”, telling lawmakers it was “of paramount importance that the political West does not allow itself to be divided”.
Amid preparations for the talks, fighting continues to rage. A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least one person on Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainian officials said.
