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Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend Monday’s proposed ceasefire talks in Turkey, the Kremlin says, as Ukraine keeps whether it will even attend at all an open question.
Istanbul is set to host the second round of Russia-Ukraine in-person talks on Monday, June 2nd, with Russia, the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany confirmed as attending. A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said their delegation would feature the same negotiators as the last talks in mid-May, confirming they aren’t planning for mooted high-level talks between the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
President Donald Trump has previously said such a leaders’ meeting will be essential to getting a peace agrees.
Meanwhile, whether Ukraine will attend the talks at all appears to be an open question. As framed by Reuters, ‘Kyiv is keeping Russia guessing’.
As things stand, the latest disagreement between Kyiv and Moscow is the Ukrainians want negotiating points out in the open and exchanged ahead of talks. The Russians, on the other hand, say they won’t hand over their memoranda to Ukraine except in person, Putin’s spokesman having said this week: “talks should always be held behind closed doors rather than in public”.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said of this: “Even the so-called “memorandum,” which they promised and allegedly spent over a week preparing — no one has seen it yet. It has not been shared with Ukraine. It has not been shared with our partners. They haven’t even shared the new agenda with Türkiye – the country that hosted the first meeting.
“Although they promised the exact opposite, and above all, they promised it to the United States, to President Trump. Another Russian deception. They are doing everything to ensure the meetings are meaningless.”
Zelensky said: “For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared. Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results.”
In a major development, a small group of major European states are expected to be involved in this round of talks, having been all but excluded hitherto. Trump’s envoy General Keith Kellogg said national security advisors from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany would be present, a move that was broadly welcomed by Russia, but who nevertheless said Monday’s talks should be about Ukraine and Russia direct talks.
As reported, President Trump has made increasingly clear the time to agree a peace has arrived and he is feeling frustrated with progress and what he identified as Russian stalling. The President has recently warned he is “not happy” with “crazy” Putin, and said Russia is “playing with fire” and risking the “downfall” of its own nation by pushing harder on Ukraine.
