Trump could join Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Turkey

Donald Trump said he was open to joining talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday, a suggestion that was quickly welcomed by Kyiv as the “right idea” as international efforts intensified to end the war.

The US president will be visiting the Gulf this week on an official trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and said he could make a detour to Turkey to take part in planned talks between the two warring parties.

“I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday, I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve got to get it done.”

Trump had previously described the prospect of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv as a “potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the US initiative, saying in a statement that “all of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Türkiye”. “This is the right idea,” he went on. “We can change a lot.”

The president’s offer to join the talks came as diplomatic efforts to stop the war in Ukraine moved up a gear with a flurry of high-profile meetings in Kyiv over the weekend. It also came as Russian forces stepped up offensives at several significant points along the 1,000km frontline, according to Ukrainian military leaders and analysts.

Following talks on Saturday in Kyiv between Zelenskyy and the leaders of Germany, the UK, France and Poland, the allies called on Russia to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting on Monday or face “massive” new sanctions.

The position was endorsed by Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, on Sunday, although Trump himself has been more guarded in his public comments on the issue.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin responded on Sunday, saying that Moscow and Kyiv should instead hold direct talks in Istanbul this Thursday, “without any preconditions”. It was not clear whether he planned to attend in person.

Putin also appeared to dismiss the western calls for a ceasefire, describing the demands as “ultimatums”. A Russian foreign ministry statement said any discussions about a ceasefire must be preceded by talks on the root causes of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Trump responded to the Russian offer of talks by saying that “Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY”.

“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible,” he wrote on Truth Social. “If it is not, European leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”

Trump also complained that he was “starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin”.

Zelenskyy subsequently agreed to the Istanbul talks, challenging the Russian leader to show up for what would be only the second time the two have met in person.

“I will be in Turkey this Thursday,” Zelenskyy said. “I hope that this time, Putin won’t be looking for excuses as to why he can’t make it. We are ready to talk, to end this war.”

The first and only time Putin and Zelenskyy met, in Paris in December 2019, they failed to agree a peace plan to end the Kremlin-instigated armed conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region that began in 2014.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not clarify whether Putin planned to attend his proposed meeting. However, the spokesman added that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had agreed in a phone call with Putin on Sunday to host a meeting in Istanbul.

Peskov described the precondition of a 30-day ceasefire, however, as an unacceptable ultimatum.

“This language of ultimatums is not acceptable for Russia, it isn’t appropriate. You cannot talk to Russia in this way,” he said.

Zelenskyy’s office told the Financial Times that the Ukrainian president would go to Turkey whether Putin shows up or not. Speaking to Ukrainian media, the president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Ukraine “will not give Russia a reason to accuse us of disrupting the peace process”.

Turkey hosted negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in 2022, just weeks after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its western neighbour.

But the talks broke down after it was revealed that Russian forces had massacred civilians in Bucha, near Kyiv — an act Zelenskyy condemned as a war crime.

As part of what Erdoğan has called his “balanced” approach to Ukraine, Turkey is one of the few countries to have good relations with both sides, maintaining trade and diplomatic relations with Moscow while also providing military supplies to Kyiv.

The latest peace push comes amid a renewed Russian spring offensive that has seen its military forces attack the strategic cities of Pokrovsk, Toretsk and Chasiv Yar in Ukraine’s east. Deep State, a Ukrainian analytical group with ties to the defence ministry, said that during Russia’s unilateral “ceasefire” from May 8 to 10, the country’s forces launched more assaults per day than they did over the same period in April.

It recorded about 155 separate attacks each day over the three-day period.

“There was no ceasefire on any front,” the group said.

Additional reporting by John Paul Rathbone in Istanbul