Live Live eyes of the world get into Turkey: will Ukrainians and Russians meet and start negotiations?

There is not much hoping for peace negotiations in Turkey without Putin and Zelensky

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to meet his face with Volodimir Zeleni in Turkey on Thursday, and instead sent a second -class delegation to planned peacekeeping negotiations, while the Ukrainian president said his defense minister will lead the team of Kiev.

It will be the first direct negotiations of the warring parties since March 2022, but the hope of greater progress was further reduced by US President Donald Trump, who said there would be no shift without a meeting between him and Putin.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later reiterated that attitude, telling journalists at the Turkish resort of Antalya da Washington « there is no great expectation » from negotiating in Istanbul on peace in Ukraine.

Zeleni said that Putin’s decision not to attend negotiations, but to send, as he said, the « decorative » lineup shows that the Russian leader had no serious intention regarding the interruption of the war. Russia accused Ukraine of trying to « make a play » around the negotiations.

It is not known when the negotiations will actually begin.

« We can’t run around the world looking for Putin, » Zelensky said after a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

« I feel disrespect on the side of Russia. There is no time to meet, there is no agenda, no high -level delegation – this is personal disrespect. According to Erdogan, according to Trump, » Zeleni told reporters.

Zeleni said that he himself would not go to Istanbul himself now, but that he ordered his team to negotiate the interruption of the fire.

Ukraine supports the currently and unconditional 30-day truce, but Putin said that he first wanted to start conversations where details of such a truce could be discussed. More than three years from a complete invasion, Russia has an advantage on the battlefield and claims that Ukraine could take a break in the war to distribute additional forces and procure more Western weapons.

Both Trump and Putin have been saying that they have been willing to meet, but the date has not yet been determined. Trump, after executing a strong pressure on Ukraine in February and clashed with the Green in the oval office, has recently expressed increasing impatience and thinks that Putin may be « dragging him ».

« Nothing will happen until Putin and I meet, » Trump told reporters on Air Force One aircraft.

Rubio later said in Turkish Antalya: « My assessment is that I do not think that we will make progress here while President (Trump) and President Putin are not directly communicated on this topic. »

Describing the current state of negotiations with « stall », Rubio said he would travel to Istanbul on Friday for a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister and the Ukrainian delegation.

First negotiations in three years

Once they start, negotiations will have to solve the gap between the two sides on a series of questions.

The Russian delegation is led by President’s Advisor Vladimir Medinski, a former Minister of Culture who oversee the creation of history textbooks to reflect Moscow’s narrative of the war. There are also Deputy Minister of Defense, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of military intelligence service.

The key members of the team, including his leader, were also included in the latest direct peace negotiations in Istanbul in March 2022, and Medinski confirmed on Thursday that Russia considers new negotiations on the continuation of those interrupted three years ago.

« The task of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is sooner or later to achieve long -term peace by removing the basic causes of conflict, » Medinski said.

The conditions discussed in 2022, while Ukraine was still recovering from the initial Russian attacks, would be extremely unfavorable to Kiev. They included the request of Moscow to significantly reduce the Ukrainian army.

With the Russian forces that now control almost fifth of Ukraine, Putin holds up his longtime demands to give Kiev the territory and give up his ambitions of NATO membership and become a neutral country.

Ukraine rejects these terms, considers them to capitize their capitulation and seek guarantees for his future security from world forces, especially the United States.