By Agence France-Presse
In a statement on Tuesday, May 13, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to help secure a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday, May 15, while accusing the Kremlin’s top brass of not seriously wanting to end the war.
Zelenskyy said in Kyiv that the West should impose massive sanctions if Putin skips the meeting, emphasizing that he would do “everything” possible to make it happen and secure a ceasefire.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in the U.S. delegation at the talks in Istanbul which “could be some pretty good results,” Trump said in Riyadh as he started a four-day Middle East trip.
The Kremlin has refused to say whether Putin will travel to Turkey, after he himself proposed Russia-Ukraine talks in a weekend Kremlin address.
“This is his war,” Zelenskyy said, “therefore, the negotiations should be with him”.
Any meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials would be the first direct negotiations since the early months of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
Trump came to office in January promising a swift end to the war, but has become increasingly frustrated at what he sees as the failure of Kyiv and Moscow to compromise over the bloodshed. On Monday, May 12, he said that he was “thinking” about going to the talks.
Zelenskyy told a press conference, “I do not know the U.S. president’s decision, but if he confirms his participation, I think it would give additional impetus for Putin to come,”.
‘Strongest’ sanctions
“Putin does not want the war to end, does not want a ceasefire, does not want any negotiations,” Zelenskyy said, adding however that he “will do everything to ensure that this meeting takes place”.
Russian airstrikes killed two people in Ukraine’s eastern region of Kharkiv, which is on the border with Russia, authorities said.
Zelenskyy urged the United States to hit Russia with its “strongest” ever sanctions should Putin not turn up—saying a refusal would be “a clear signal that they do not want and are not going to end the war”.
With regards to the talks, Putin’s spokesperson refused to say who Moscow would send to the talks.
‘De-Nazification’
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia would use the talks to address its key aims and the “root causes” of the conflict—the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine and the “incorporation of new territories into the Russian Federation”.
Kyiv and the West reject those narratives, calling Russia’s invasion an “imperial-style land grab”.
Putin proposed Russia-Ukraine talks after Kyiv and European countries urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday, May 12.
Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia invaded Ukraine, while Moscow’s army now controls around one-fifth of the country—including the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.
Putin doesn’t ‘dare’ meet
Russia did not explicitly respond to Ukraine and the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, and Poland calling for Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, though the Kremlin blasted European “ultimatums” in an apparent rejection.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Russia on Tuesday, May 13, that it would face fresh European sanctions if there was no “real progress” this week towards peace in Ukraine, as he urged Putin to meet Zelenskyy.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe would impose new sanctions if Moscow did not agree to the 30-day ceasefire.
The European Union has already imposed 16 rounds of sanctions on Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Macron, who has developed a warm working relationship with Zelenskyy, said that “Ukrainians have the clear-sightedness to say that they do not have the capacity to retake everything that has been taken since 2014.”
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas questioned whether Putin had the nerve to show up.
“I think it’s a good move if they sit down. But I don’t think he dares, Putin.” Kallas told a democracy conference in Copenhagen.
Zelenskyy said he would meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, May 14 or Thursday, May 15, and was ready to meet Putin either there or in Istanbul.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul in March 2022 aimed at halting the conflict but did not strike a deal.
Contact between the warring sides has been extremely limited since, mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of killed soldiers’ bodies.
