Newsletters
The Kremlin confirmed Tuesday that a Russian delegation will travel to Istanbul on Thursday (May 15) to take part in direct peace talks with Ukraine, marking the most serious attempt in months to resolve the conflict diplomatically.
“We only evaluate the statements of President Putin, who proposed holding negotiations between delegations on Thursday in Istanbul. Our delegation will be there and will wait for the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin. The identities of the Russian delegates will be revealed only once President Vladimir Putin authorizes it, Peskov added.
The planned summit comes after Putin proposed direct talks during a press conference in Moscow on Sunday, rejecting a 30-day cease-fire initiative backed by Ukraine and its Western allies — a plan Kyiv says Russia has “completely ignored.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed his attendance, while Putin has yet to state whether he will join the talks in person.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent Washington at the May 15 talks in Türkiye. “Talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could be some pretty good results,” Trump said during a speech in Riyadh. “Marco is going to be going there.”
Trump also hinted he might travel to Türkiye himself if his presence would contribute to the peace process.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke with Putin by phone earlier this week, reaffirmed Türkiye’s readiness to host the negotiations and urged all sides to seize what he called a “window of opportunity” for peace.
The Istanbul meeting would be the highest-level face-to-face engagement between Russia and Ukraine in over a year. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Russian forces currently occupy about one-fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
1 min read
1 min read
