Russia on Wednesday launched an inventory of officers who will attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey. However a key individual was lacking: President Vladimir V. Putin.
The absence on the record of the Russian chief, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that started the battle, was a powerful indication that Mr. Putin wouldn’t come head to head this week with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has known as him a assassin. The Kremlin mentioned Mr. Putin himself had signed off on the delegation.
President Trump, who had begun pushing for peace talks earlier than he took again the White Home, beforehand mentioned he would take into account becoming a member of the assembly in Turkey.
“I used to be occupied with really flying over there,” Mr. Trump advised reporters throughout a White Home information convention on Monday.
However on Wednesday, Mr. Trump, who’s on a three-nation tour of the Center East, indicated that he, too, would skip the talks and would as an alternative go to the United Arab Emirates as deliberate. However he mentioned that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would attend.
“Tomorrow, we’re all booked out, you perceive that,” Mr. Trump advised reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to U.A.E. tomorrow. So we’ve got a really full state of affairs. Now that doesn’t imply I wouldn’t do it to avoid wasting numerous lives and are available again. However, yeah, I’ve been occupied with it.”
Of Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump added: “I don’t know that he could be there if I’m not there. We’re going to seek out out. Marco’s going and Marco’s been very efficient.” Together with Mr. Rubio, Mr. Trump’s particular envoys Steven Witkoff and Keith Kellogg had been anticipated to journey to Turkey.
In a social media publish on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky mentioned he was “ready to see who will come from Russia” earlier than deciding what steps Ukraine ought to take relating to the peace talks. He additionally urged the “strongest” Western sanctions in opposition to Russia if Mr. Putin rejected the assembly.
The Kremlin mentioned that the Russian delegation could be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hard-line aide to Mr. Putin. It might additionally embrace Deputy Protection Minister Alexander Fomin, who was a part of the Russian delegation in talks held between Moscow and Kyiv within the weeks after the 2022 invasion; and different senior navy and intelligence officers.
The stakes couldn’t be greater for either side within the largest land battle in Europe since World Warfare II.
After greater than three years of battle, Mr. Putin’s stance is that Russia is profitable on the battlefield. However analysts estimate Moscow has misplaced a whole bunch of 1000’s of troops to demise and damage. Its troopers and brigades have been so depleted that it turned to North Korea for troops, and Moscow has struggled to interchange destroyed tools, analysts say.
Ukrainian forces, which made an audacious invasion into Russia’s Kursk area in August 2024, have since pulled out nearly solely. They’ve additionally been steadily shedding floor of their nation’s east. As Mr. Trump has pushed for peace talks, Kyiv has careworn that it wants safety ensures from the US. Ukraine even signed a deal final month that provides America a share of future revenues from its reserves of uncommon earth minerals. However the remaining deal didn’t embrace specific ensures of future U.S. safety help.
Because the strain for peace has grown, the White Home mentioned in March that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to stop preventing within the Black Sea and to work on particulars for halting strikes on power services. Later that month, after conferences had been held in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine mentioned it will help a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day cease-fire. That gave new momentum to truce negotiations, which had faltered after a public confrontation on the White Home between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump.
Then, in April, Mr. Putin declared an “Easter truce,” ordering his forces to “cease all navy exercise” in opposition to Ukraine for the vacation. It was apparently geared toward displaying an impatient Trump administration that Moscow was nonetheless open to peace talks. Mr. Zelensky mentioned Ukraine would abide by a truce as long as Russia did, however Kyiv mentioned Moscow broke its personal truce.
After Mr. Trump expressed frustration with Russia’s refusal to cease the battle, Mr. Putin ordered a three-day cease-fire to start on Might 8, to be able to mark the Might 9 celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World Warfare II. Mr. Zelensky described that pledge as a “manipulation.”
Britain and France promised to muster a “coalition of the keen” to safe a peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia. Then a coalition of European allies gave Russia a deadline this month to comply with a 30-day cease-fire or face new sanctions.
In his social media publish on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president mentioned he was “prepared for any format of negotiations” with Russia in Turkey.
“Russia is barely prolonging the battle and the killings,” Mr. Zelensky added. “I wish to thank each nation, each chief who’s now placing strain on Russia, in order that the shelling lastly stops.”
Cicely Wedgeworth and Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting.