The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced that they would not attend on Thursday what could be the first direct peace conversations between Moscow and kyiv in three years, and that the Kremlin would send instead to a group of expert technocrats.
Putin proposed on Sunday to negotiate directly with Ukraine on Thursday in Istanbul “without previous conditions.” Late on Wednesday, the Kremlin reported that the delegation would include Presidential Advisor Vladimir Medinsky and the Deputy Minister of Defense Alexander FO, but the name of Putin did not appear on the list.
After the announcement of the Kremlin delegation, an American spokesman said that Trump, who is touring three countries in the Middle East, would not attend. The American leader had said previously that he was considering his possible participation.
Although Putin had never confirmed that he would attend in person, the absence of Russian and American presidents reduces the expectations of a great advance in the war that Russia began in February 2022.
The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, had challenged Putin to attend the conversations “if she is not afraid”, in an apparent contest to demonstrate to Trump who wants peace, Ukraine or Russia.
While the kyiv leader was heading to Türkiye late on Wednesday, a high Ukrainian position said Zelenski had reported that he would participate in the conversations only if Putin attended.
In his Wednesday video night speech, Zelenski said that Ukraine would decide his steps for peace conversations in Türkiye once Putin’s participation was clarified.
“The answers to all the questions about this war, why it began, why it continues, all these answers are in Moscow,” said Zelenski. “How war will end depends on the world.”
Trump wants the two parties to sign the 30 -day fire to pause the largest land war in Europe since World War II, and a Russian legislator said Wednesday that there could also be discussions about a great exchange of war prisoners.
Zelenski supports a high immediate fire of 30 days, but Putin has said that he first wants to initiate conversations in which the details of said fire can be discussed.
Trump, who is increasingly frustrated with both Russia and Ukraine while trying to push them towards a peace agreement, said “I was always considering” secondary sanctions against Moscow if I thought I was blocking the process.
American leaders have talked about possible financial sanctions, as well as possible sanctions secondary to Russian oil buyers.
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Putin and Trump will not attend peace conversations with Ukraine proposed by the Russian leader
The US delegation in Türkiye included Secretary of State Framework Rubio and the high Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, said on Thursday that he had met with Rubio to share Zelenski’s vision of peace and “coordinate positions during this critical week.”
Medinsky and MIF, which are part of the Russian delegation, participated in the last series of negotiations between both parties in the first weeks of the war.
Other senior military and intelligence services were also part of the Thursday’s delegation.
The direct conversations between the negotiators of Ukraine and Russia took place for the last time in Istanbul in March 2022, one month after Putin sent tens of thousands of soldiers to Ukraine in what he calls a “special military operation” to eradicate the neo -Nazis.
Ukraine and its allies claim that the invasion was an appropriation of unpaved land, imperialist.
With the Russian army advancing to marches forced in Ukraine and now controlling around a fifth of the country, the head of the Kremlin has offered few concessions, if it has offered any, until now.
In his weekend proposal, he said that conversations in Türkiye would have as its objective a lasting peace.
Specifically mentioned the 2022 conversations and the failed agreement project.
According to that agreement, among other things, Ukraine would have accepted permanent neutrality in exchange for security guarantees of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and the United States, and other nations such as Belarus, Canada, Germany, Israel, Poland and Turkey, according to a draft to which Reuters had access.
But kyiv authorities claim that accepting Ukrainian neutrality is a red line that will not cross.
With Reuters information.
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