Putin does not travel to Turkey: "decorative Russian delegation", says Zelensky

On Thursday 15 May 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to travel to Turkey to sit at the table. The aim: a sustainable ceasefire. At least, that was the intention, but it did not happen that way.

It seems, however, that Putin will not be going to Turkey. Zelensky had earlier stated he wanted to negotiate directly with Putin, but the Russian president is represented by a delegation of relative lightweights within the Kremlin. Zelensky described the Russian delegation to reporters at the Ankara airport as “decorative”. This includes advisor Vladimir Medinski along with several Deputy Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs. President Putin himself has not responded to the invitation - or challenge - from Ukrainian President Zelensky to personally travel to Istanbul.

Zelensky nevertheless arrived on Thursday morning in the Turkish capital Ankara for a meeting with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian officials are expected separately in Istanbul for peace talks between the two countries. These talks have been rescheduled, on Turkish initiative, for the second half of the day, as reported by the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry.

(SR - Source: Reuters - Illustration: Photo by ©kremlin.ru via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 4.0 license)