Ukraine peace breakthrough unlikely as Putin declines to meet Zelensky in Turkey

‘We can’t be running around the world looking for Putin,’ Zelensky said after meeting Turkish President Erdogan in Ankara

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before their meeting in Ankara on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:56pm, 15 May 2025Updated: 4:50am, 16 May 2025

Russia’s Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey this week, instead sending a second-tier delegation to planned peace talks, while Ukraine’s president said his defence minister would head up Kyiv’s team.

The negotiations for an end to the Ukraine war between Ukrainian and Russian envoys in Istanbul have been postponed from Thursday until Friday, according to sources from the foreign ministry in Ankara.

Previously, Russian news agencies cited anonymous sources as saying that the talks had been postponed to Friday.

They will be the first direct talks between the sides since March 2022, but hopes of a breakthrough were further dented by US President Donald Trump who said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Putin.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later echoed that view, telling reporters in the Turkish resort of Antalya that Washington “didn’t have high expectations” for the Ukraine talks in Istanbul.

Zelensky said Putin’s decision not to attend but to send what he called a “decorative” line-up showed the Russian leader was not serious about ending the war. Russia accused Ukraine of trying “to put on a show” around the talks.