Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj held a hastily called press conference in Ankara directly after a meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Zelenskyj announced that he will not be going to the talks in Istanbul since Putin said he will not be coming. Ukraine's delegation is instead led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Zelenskyj then chose to use the scene to emphasize Ukraine's willingness to reach a ceasefire. He stated that it was clear that the aggressor Russia and President Putin were not interested in concrete talks.
"I am ready"
Unfortunately, they are not serious enough about holding negotiations. I am here, we are ready for direct negotiations, said Zelenskyj and added that the talks may begin at the Dolmabahçe Palace on Thursday evening or on Friday.
Zelenskyj underscored that the Ukrainian delegation has a mandate to negotiate a ceasefire, "to try to take the first steps towards an end to the war – namely a ceasefire".
A whole world wants to see a ceasefire (except Russia), he continued.
On state-controlled Russian TV, President Putin's hardline adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who is to represent Russia in the talks, said that they are ready for "a possible compromise" without specifying what such a compromise could entail.
The delegation, which according to the Russian news agency Interfax arrived in Istanbul on Thursday morning, also consists of Deputy Foreign Minister Michail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, and Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia's military intelligence service GRU.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday evening that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had talks with the Russian representatives.
American Disappointment
The development in Turkey is being closely followed by the USA.
Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, on site at the military alliance NATO's meeting in Turkey, said that the development looks bleak.
I want to be honest, we do not have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow (at the negotiations).
President Donald Trump, who is on a tour of the Arabian Peninsula, said he was ready to travel to Istanbul, but after Putin's announcement, the plans were scrapped.
On board the presidential plane Air Force One, en route from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates, USA's President Donald Trump said he does not expect success in the talks about Ukraine unless he and Putin are involved:
I do not think anything happens, whether you want it or not, until he and I meet.
