Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky./SCREENGRAB
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not meet with any Russian official other than President Vladimir Putin in Türkiye, Interfax-Ukraine reported on Tuesday, citing Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
According to Podolyak, a lower-level bilateral meeting in Istanbul would be "pointless," as Russian ministers likely lack the authority to make substantive decisions.
On Sunday, President Putin proposed resuming direct negotiations with Ukraine on May 15 in Türkiye. That same day, Zelensky stated he would be prepared to meet with Putin in Istanbul.
Earlier, Moscow said it will announce the names of its negotiators for peace talks with Ukraine, scheduled to take place in Istanbul on May 15, as soon as Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks fit.
Peskov answered in the negative when reporters asked him whether he could comment on who will represent Russia at the upcoming talks.
"We will make an announcement as soon as the president thinks fit," he said.
Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin in the small hours of May 11, the Russian leader invited the Kiev authorities to resume the direct talks they broke off in 2022 without any preliminary conditions.
Putin had proposed to launch a dialogue on May 15 in Istanbul.
He recalled that Russia had declared ceasefires more than once but all of them, including the latest three-day V-Day truce, were violated by the Kiev regime.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky shared his plans to arrive in Istanbul on Thursday.
His statement came after US President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to immediately agree to Putin’s proposal to negotiate. Before that, Zelensky conditioned talks with Moscow on a 30-day ceasefire.
