Putin's no-show throws Ukraine peace talks into confusion

Istanbul: Russian President Vladimir Putin sent aides and deputy ministers to hold peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday, spurning Kyiv's challenge to go there in person to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul and Zelenskyy had said he would be waiting for the Kremlin leader.

But after keeping the world guessing for days about Putin's plans, the Kremlin late on Wednesday named a lower-level delegation that did not include the president and was described by Kyiv's European allies as a snub.

It was unclear how Ukraine - which has so far not publicly committed to send anyone to talks in Istanbul or to name a delegation - would respond.

A Ukrainian official said Zelenskyy - who has said he will not speak to anyone on the Russian side except Putin - would make a decision about the talks after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later on Thursday in Ankara.

There was confusion in Istanbul, where reporters were gathered near the Dolmabahce palace that the Russians had specified as the talks venue.

A Ukrainian official said there had been no agreement on when talks might begin. Turkish officials have given no information on the time or location, but Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he hoped the talks would open a new chapter.

Zelenskyy had goaded Putin earlier this week by questioning if he was brave enough to show up. The Kremlin says Putin - who is also under threat of even tighter European sanctions to "suffocate" Russia's economy - does not respond to ultimatums.

Pressure from Trump

The warring sides last held face-to-face talks - also in Istanbul - in March 2022, only weeks after Putin sent his army into Ukraine.

Both are trying to show U.S. President Donald Trump they are serious about peace, as he presses them to end what he calls "this stupid war". Washington has threatened repeatedly to abandon its diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict unless there is clear progress.

After leaning heavily on Ukraine and clashing with Zelenskyy at a meeting in the Oval Office in February, Trump has shown increasing impatience with Putin in recent weeks and threatened additional sanctions to hit Russian trade.

Trump, who is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, said on Thursday he would go to the talks in Turkey on Friday "if it is appropriate".

The confirmed absence of Putin lowers the expectations for a major breakthrough in the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

Zelenskyy backs an immediate 30-day ceasefire, but Putin has said he first wants to start talks at which the details of such a truce could be discussed.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a NATO meeting in Turkey, said there was no military solution to the conflict, and Trump was open to "virtually any mechanism" that would lead to peace.

'Not the key players'

The Russian delegation named by the Kremlin is headed by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and includes a deputy defence minister, a deputy foreign minister and the head of the GRU military intelligence agency.

The Kremlin said Putin had held a late night meeting with ministers, military commanders and spy chiefs to discuss the upcoming talks.

A source involved on the Ukrainian side in the March 2022 talks in Istanbul said that Medinsky - who also led the Russian team then - did not have a strong mandate to make decisions.

"The most important point is that the people who will actually be sitting at the table are not necessarily the key players," the source said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Zelenskyy had shown his good faith by coming to Turkey but there was an "empty chair" where Putin should be sitting.

"Putin is stalling and clearly has no desire to enter these peace negotiations, even when President Trump expressed his availability and his desire to facilitate these negotiations," he said.

Estonia, an EU and NATO member, said Putin was delivering a "slap in the face" by sending a low-level team.

Highlighting the level of tension between Russia and the U.S.-led alliance, Estonia said a Russian fighter jet had "violated NATO territory" as the Estonian navy tried to detain a Russia-bound oil tanker under British sanctions.

If the talks in Turkey do go ahead, they will have to address a chasm between the two sides over a host of issues.

With Russian forces in control of close to a fifth of Ukraine, Putin has held fast to his longstanding demands for Kyiv to cede territory, abandon its NATO membership ambitions and become a neutral country.

Ukraine rejects these terms as tantamount to capitulation, and is seeking guarantees of its future security from world powers, especially the United States.