No deal until Putin and I get together, says Trump

Zelensky claims the Russian leader’s failure to attend peace talks in Turkey shows he is not serious about ending the war

- RACHEL CLUN and ALEX CROFT

Donald Trump has claimed a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine won’t happen until he meets with Vladimir Putin, after the Russian president spurned ceasefire talks he instigated, then refused to send even senior ministers to the negotiations.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin’s failure to attend talks in Turkey showed he was not ready for peace, as he called on the Russian leader to “demonstrate leadership” if he was serious about ending the invasion Moscow started in 2022. President Zelensky said a senior Ukrainian delegation, including the defence minister, Rustem Umerov, would be sent to Istanbul for talks.

However, he called the second-tier Russian representatives a “dummy delegation” and a “prop” for Putin – adding later that the team he was sending would better match that ambition.

“If we don’t see that demonstration, then it means they are not ready to talk about the end of the war,” the Ukrainian president said after meeting the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara. “It means they lack political will.” In contrast, he added, “I am here, we are ready for direct negotiations.”

The talks will be the first direct discussions between Kyiv and Moscow since a previous attempt in Turkey in 2022. “We demonstrate with our presence, and our level, that we want to put an end to war quickly,” Mr Zelensky continued.