Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: if Putin comes to the meeting in Turkey, it will be impossible to reach an agreement on all issues at once, but the meeting will need to find a format for ending the war.
He said this in an interview with Libération, Ouest-France reports.
"If I meet with him, we must come out of this situation with a political victory — a ceasefire, an "all-for-all" prisoner exchange, or something like that," Zelensky said.
He added that the Russians will not trust the Ukrainians, and the Ukrainians will not trust the Russians. Therefore, mediation is needed, which both sides will trust. In particular, we are talking about the United States. The president believes that Trumpʼs presence may encourage Putin to come. Zelensky says: if Putin does not come, it will look like his "complete defeat".
The US Special Representative Keith Kellogg previously said that Trumpʼs team has already prepared a list of key topics that they believe the parties should discuss. First and foremost, it concerns a ceasefire.
Other topics include the issue of the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia, control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the impossibility of Ukraine joining NATO "in the near future", the return of Ukrainian children, as well as the deployment of Western contingents and peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Negotiations in Turkey
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on May 10 that a full ceasefire with the Russian Federation should begin on May 12 for at least 30 days. According to him, the ceasefire should be comprehensive, that is, in the air, at sea, and on land, and monitoring can be provided together with the United States.
On the night of May 11, Putin proposed resuming direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, without mentioning the 30-day ceasefire that is due to come into effect on May 12. Zelensky responded that he would personally wait for Putin in Turkey if Russia ceases fire. Russia has not yet responded to the invitation.
Zelensky later added that he was ready to meet with Putin anywhere in Turkey on May 15, not just in Istanbul.
The Washington Post, citing a former senior Kremlin official, wrote that Russia will be represented at the talks in Turkey by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putinʼs foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. Putinʼs own arrival is unlikely.
The Americans will be represented in Istanbul by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg. Kellogg said that US President Donald Trump would fly to the talks if Putin came to the meeting.
Zelensky stressed that Putinʼs non-arrival is the final point of demonstration that Russia is not ready for the end of the war. Therefore, if Putin does not come to the meeting in Turkey, the US and Europe should introduce new packages of sanctions against Russia, he believes.
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