Zensky promises to do everything to guarantee direct conversations with Putin in Turkey

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zensky has said that he will travel to the capital Ankara of Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and be available for direct conversations with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul on Thursday.

“We will do everything we can to ensure that this meeting takes place,” he told reporters in a hastily arranged briefing.

Russia has not yet said who will fly to Istanbul, just that it would be announced “as soon as (President Putin) deems it necessary”. Putin and Zensky did not meet five and a half years.

Direct conversations between the two countries last took place in Istanbul, in March 2022, in the early weeks of the full invasion of Russia in Ukraine.

Putin had initially called for direct conversations in the second city of Turkey “without pre-conditions”, before Zensky announced that he would go personally and expected that the Russian president would also travel.

The US is also expected to send a high -level delegation.

By confirming his visit to Turkey at a hastily connected press conference, Zensky clearly tried to intensify the pressure on Russia to respond. The Kremlin has already warned that exerting pressure on Moscow is “useless” and it does not respond to ultimatums.

Instead, Russia tried to concentrate on a long -term arrangement that tackles the “main causes” of the war and is about “realities on the spot”.

The Ukrainian leader said, however, that while he was willing to meet Putin in Istanbul, his priority was to protect a 30-day ceasefires of which he said all the allies of Ukraine had agreed.

Zensky said he believed that Putin’s Late Night offer was designed on Sunday for direct conversations in Turkey to catch Kyiv, so that he would “not respond” or “respond in a negative way for Ukraine”.

US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the Golf, has hinted that he could fly to Istanbul himself “if I think things can happen”.

For the time being, that seems unlikely, and unconfirmed reports to suggest that two senior American envoys, Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, are planning to be in Istanbul on the day.

The Kremlin has tried to dampen speculation that Putin could go.

“Russia continues the preparations for the negotiations on Thursday. That is all that can be said now,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Vice -Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow was willing to keep conversations “justified”, but doubts about Ukraine’s ability to adhere to similarities.

EU chef of the Foreign Policy Kaja Kallas said it would be a good move for the two leaders to sit down and talk, but added: “I don’t think he dares, Putin.”

Zensky also accused Putin of “being afraid” to meet him. His staff chef, Andriy Yermak, said that if the Russian leader refused to go to Istanbul, the “definitive signal” would not end the war.

The leaders of the most important allies of Ukraine – the UK, Germany, Poland and France – traveled to Kiev on weekends to warn against further sanctions such as Russia did not cease the 30 -day fires.

The European Union is currently working on a 17th package of measures.