Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned he hopes the present interval of frantic diplomacy and high-stakes gambits between Russia and Ukraine will finish with Donald Trump understanding that Vladimir Putin is the actual impediment to a peace deal.
“Trump needs to believe that Putin actually lies. And we should do our part. Sensibly approach this issue, to show that it’s not us that is slowing down the process,” mentioned Zelenskyy, talking to a small group of journalists, together with the Guardian, in his workplace on the presidential administration in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy mentioned he would journey to Turkey on Thursday whether or not or not Putin flew in for talks.
Zelenskyy mentioned he had organized to satisfy with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara, however could be able to fly to Istanbul at a second’s discover if the Russian chief confirmed up. “If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war,” he mentioned on Tuesday.
Beforehand, after Putin used an surprising late-night Kremlin deal with to name for direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul, Zelenskyy responded by saying he could be ready for Putin personally in Turkey on Thursday.
Trump, who’s on a go to to Saudi Arabia, appeared to drift the concept of a three-way assembly with Putin and Zelenskyy, saying on Monday: “I believe the two leaders are going to be there. I was thinking about flying over.”
Zelenskyy mentioned he hoped Trump would certainly meet him in Turkey. “If Trump travels, it will push Putin also to travel,” he mentioned. “Trump can really help. It’s the situation where the US being present can give important guarantees.”
Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, additionally steered the potential for a three-way summit. “This could be a really great meeting … We hope that President Putin will also come, and then President Trump will be there,” he advised Fox Information. Kellogg, in addition to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the envoy Steve Witkoff are additionally reportedly anticipated in Turkey.
Nonetheless, there’s little signal that Putin is ready to journey. Though he has circuitously dominated it out, feedback from the Kremlin counsel Russia will as an alternative ship a lower-level negotiating crew to Istanbul.
“Our delegation will be there and will wait for the Ukrainian side,” mentioned Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday night. The Russian deputy international minister, Sergei Ryabkov, mentioned Russia wished to make use of any talks to deal with the “root causes” of the battle as Moscow sees them, together with the “denazification” of Ukraine and the official incorporation into Russia of annexed territories – suggesting that the rhetoric of the 2 sides continues to be very far aside.
Zelenskyy mentioned he believed that with out a ceasefire agreed by the leaders, there was no level in starting lower-level talks.
“I want you to understand why I would meet with Putin. We are not going to be able to agree on everything now. It’s impossible. We have different approaches to life, different worldviews. But we have to somehow find a way to end the war,” he mentioned. If he and Putin may agree on a ceasefire, Zelenskyy mentioned, then lower-level teams may meet to start out hammering out particulars of the subsequent steps.
He pointed to earlier talks in Saudi Arabia, when the Individuals acted as intermediaries between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, and a long-lasting full ceasefire couldn’t be agreed. “Without signals from the leaders, or a meeting of the leaders, this format doesn’t work,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, when pressed, he refused to rule out sending a lower-level delegation to Istanbul for talks. “I don’t know. I am being honest. Maybe the Americans, maybe someone will really want to launch this format again. I don’t know,” he mentioned.
The back-and-forth diplomacy started with a go to to Kyiv by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland on Saturday, timed symbolically to come back simply in the future after a set-piece navy parade in Moscow marking 80 years for the reason that Soviet victory within the second world warfare. After talking with Trump on the telephone, the 4 European leaders laid down an ultimatum to Putin that he ought to signal as much as a 30-day ceasefire by Monday or face additional sanctions. Putin rejected the ultimatum, as an alternative providing the Istanbul talks with out a ceasefire.
Within the occasion that nothing is agreed throughout no matter conferences happen in Turkey this week, the large query is whether or not the Europeans can convey Trump together with them of their plans to ratchet up the stress on Moscow. Zelenskyy mentioned he hoped that new sanctions would quickly be on the agenda if Thursday’s conferences got here to nothing.
“I believe that President Trump is not against imposing sanctions … and I believe that there is political will in Congress to vote for these sanctions. I believe the Americans are very close to imposing these sanctions,” he mentioned. He added that consultations would happen within the coming days – “if you’ll allow me, I won’t say where or when” – wherein Europeans could be briefed on upcoming US sanctions plans.
The Ukrainian president has been strolling a diplomatic tightrope in latest weeks, as Kyiv tries to maintain the Trump administration on facet. After the disastrous White Home assembly on the finish of February, Zelenskyy seems to have had some success turning the connection round, culminating in a optimistic assembly on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral within the Vatican final month.
Requested what he had mentioned to Trump to win him again over, Zelenskyy declined to reply: “I won’t tell you. I know the reasons; in my opinion, I know why we had such a good talk. But I can’t say, I just can’t.”
British and French officers have been talking often with Ukrainian counterparts for the reason that White Home debacle and providing steerage on the best way to mend relations with the US administration.
Zelenskyy mentioned the contact with European allies had been nearer and extra frequent than ever earlier than, and that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, was one in all “two or three” leaders whom he spoke with often by telephone. “He has a very creative approach … He’s a risk-taker. And risk-takers can be different kinds of people, but they are all focused on results. They don’t put themselves above everything else,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
After his go to to Turkey, Zelenskyy is predicted to go to Albania for a gathering of European politicians on Friday, after which might journey to Rome, the place he steered he may attend the inaugural mass of the brand new pope, Leo XIV, after having a optimistic telephone name with him earlier this week.
“I think it could happen on Sunday,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “If it works out. We don’t know what this week will bring. We have come to the moment when we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”
