The Kremlin has confirmed that President Vladimir Putin will not meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye after Putin initially offered to meet the Ukrainian leader in person.

The negotiations this week are the result of a counter-offer by Putin after the Russian leader rejected Zelenskyy’s request for a 30-day ceasefire from Monday 12th May.

The list of delegates for the peace talks include Vladimir Medinsky, a political advisor who lead the last round of negotiations. Medinsky will be joined by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and the Russian military intelligence agency head Igor Kostyukov.

Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X he was “waiting to see who will come from Russia”, before deciding the next steps for Ukraine.

“Russia is only prolonging the war and the killings,” he wrote.

“I want to thank every country, every leader who is now putting pressure on Russia, so that the shelling finally stops, so that meaningful negotiations can take place at a level where real decisions can be made.”

US President Donald Trump says will not attend the talks in Türkiye although he is currently in the Middle East to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump’s presence could potentially influence the negotiations and Zelenskyy has said that Trump’s attendance “could change a lot”.

Trump shared his busy schedule with reporters and said “we’re all booked out, you understand that”.

“We’re going to U.A.E. tomorrow. So we have a very full situation.”

“Now that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 the conflict has become the largest and most deadly European war since WWII.

If Putin was to appear in Istanbul to meet with Zelenskyy it would be the first time the pair had met since 2019.

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