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Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that he won’t be going to Turkey for the discussions between Moscow and Kyiv scheduled for Thursday, despite requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his participation.
White House representatives stated that US President Donald Trump will also refrain from traveling to Turkey for the talks after Putin revealed the list of Russian delegates, which comprises mainly lower-ranking officials.
Last Sunday, Putin suggested having direct discussions between Russia and Ukraine “without preconditions” as a response to the demand from Ukraine’s Western allies for a 30-day halt in the conflict. He mentioned that these negotiations would take place on Thursday in Turkey.
Putin said the purpose of the talks would be “to remove the root causes of the conflict and move towards creating a long-term, durable peace in a historical perspective”.
Zelenskyy said he was willing to attend, but only if Putin also showed up, because “everything in Russia depends” on the Russian leader.
“So I said that on [Thursday] I will go to Turkey and I’m ready to meet Putin and an end to the war was through direct talks with him,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.
Trump had hailed Putin’s initiative, describing it as a “potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine”. The president, who is currently on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, had also said he might make a detour to Turkey to attend the talks.
