Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Tuesday during a press conference that he plans to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan on 14 or 15 May in Turkey, where he will travel to discuss peace negotiations with Russia. The Ukrainian president hopes that Donald Trump will also join the meeting.
In statements reported by the Ukrainian press, Zelenskyy said he is confident that a possible face-to-face meeting between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could take place on 15 May in Istanbul, will lead to a lasting ceasefire. However, the Ukrainian leader pointed out that the meeting with Erdoğan will take place in Ankara, although both will fly to Istanbul if Putin finally decides to attend the negotiations in person, something that for now seems unlikely according to sources in the Kremlin.
‘We will wait for a meeting with Putin in Turkey, so that Russia does not manipulate and say that Putin is not ready to fly to Ankara and will only fly to Istanbul,’ Zelenskyy told reporters in Kiev during a press conference. ‘I have conveyed the message to President Erdoğan, and the Turkish side is ready,’ announced Zelenskyy, who also held talks with Pope Leo XIV and invited him to visit Ukraine.
‘I have invited President Trump to join us,’ he added. “I do not know the US president’s decision, but if he confirms his participation, I believe it will provide a boost for President Putin to also attend,” Zelenskyy said speaking about the meeting in Istanbul, which, if it takes place, would be the first direct negotiations between senior representatives of Ukraine and Russia since 2022.
Zelenskyy has asked Putin to attend in person the negotiations that the Russian leader himself proposed to hold in Istanbul, as Ukraine considers that failure to do so would be a ‘clear sign’ that the Russian president has no real intention of negotiating a peace agreement. However, Moscow again avoided giving a clear answer to this possibility on Tuesday. ‘If Vladimir Putin refuses to go to Turkey, it will be the final signal that Russia does not want to end this war, that Russia does not want and is not ready for any peace negotiations,’ said the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Andriy Yermak.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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