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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pledged to travel to Turkey, despite Vladimir Putin’s plans, increasing actions in a Western -led pressure campaign to obtain Russian leader to engage in peace talks.
Zelenskyy aims to travel to Ankara on Thursday, where he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan and wait for Putin’s arrival in Istanbul or anywhere else in Turkey.
“If he takes the step to say he is ready for a ceasefire, then she paves the way to discuss all the elements to end the war,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday.
If Putin refuses to show, “it means only one thing: that Russia is not ready for negotiations,” Zelenskyy said. In that case, US and European partners should follow with their threat to impose “strong sanctions” on Russia, he added.
The new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said that European nations were working together in a “significant coercion” of sanctions if they agreed that there was no “real progress” from Putin.
Merz said he admired Zelenskyy’s willingness to compromise, but added: “I believe that more compromises and more concessions are no more reasonable.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also said he was in favor of imposing new sanctions on Russia in the coming days if Putin failed to agree with the ceasefire.
Zelenskyy said he was not ready to meet any Russian official except Putin, as a “deal” could only be with the Russian president.
If the executives’ meeting does not take place, a team of Ukraine negotiators could meet with Russian counterparts, according to Zelenskyy’s office.
Putin initially sailed the idea of a meeting in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators-but not leaders-in a brief speech on Sunday, after weeks of pressure from Kyiv, Washington and European capitals to agree on a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.
The Kremlin has refused to clarify whether the Russian President will participate. Asked about Putin’s plans on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “Russia continues to prepare for talks” and will announce who will participate “as soon as the president consider it necessary”.
On Monday, Peskov criticized the western threat of more sanctions as “inappropriate”.
US President Donald Trump has asked both sides to hold talks as soon as possible.
Trump, who began his first foreign journey of his second term as US president in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, said he was open to join negotiations between his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Turkey “if I think things can happen, but we have to do it.”
The US president said on Tuesday, the Secretary of State and acting national security adviser Marco Rubio will travel to Turkey to participate.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov listed some of the topics Moscow expects to be ready for discussion in Istanbul, including “resolving issues related to the Kyiv regime”, a term that Russian officials and propagandists use to show a change of leadership in Ukraine, especially Zelenskyy, who is Jew.
Ryabkov said that “recognition of realities” on the ground, including “entry of new territories into the Russian Federation”, should also be on the agenda, referring to parts of South and Eastern Ukraine under Russian occupation.
The Ukrainian side is seeking an immediate, unconditional 30-day ceasefire, as a prerequisite for broader, official negotiations, Zelenskyy said.
If Putin agrees, the ceasefire would be followed by low-level talks focused on practical implementation, security guarantees and wider frameworks for the escalation, he added.
Zelenskyy said that since the first time SH.BA proposed an unconditional ceasefire more than two months ago, Kyiv has been ready to implement it.
Russia, on the other hand, said, has continued its occupation, attacking Ukraine with hundreds of rockets and drones and starting new offensives in the front line of 1,000 km.
Deep State, a Ukrainian analytical group near the Ministry of Defense, said the Russian armed forces this week had captured more ground in the Eastern Donetsk region, especially around the Flashpoint cities of Pokrovsk and Turtsk.
Ukrainian intelligence officials said Russia seems to be preparing for a larger attack, moving forces to the main points on the battlefield, rather than signaling a willingness for peace talks.
