US President Donald Trump is not going to Turkey tomorrow to join talks between Russia and Ukraine aimed ending the war, a US official has said.
The official spoke after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the Russian delegation for the talks, a list that did not include Mr Putin himself.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump had offered to head to Turkey for the talks, so long as Mr Putin also showed up.
It comes as a senior Ukrainian official had said that President Volodymyr Zelensky was on his way to Turkey for the negotiations.
“We’re on the way,” the Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified owing to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters.
The Russian delegation included adviser Vladimir Medinsky and deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin, who took part in the last talks held between the two sides in 2022 in the weeks following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Also named as part of the delegation was Igor Kostyukov, director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the GRU, Russia’s Foreign Military Intelligence Agency.
Mr Zelensky said he would decide his next “steps” based on who will represent Russia at the talks.
“I am waiting to see who will arrive from Russia. Then I will decide what steps Ukraine should take,” Mr Zelensky said in his evening address.
Mr Putin himself proposed direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv at the weekend, a counter-offer after Ukraine and Europe called for a 30-day full and unconditional ceasefire.
“I don’t know that he (Putin) would be there if I’m not there,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.
“I know he would like me to be there, and that’s a possibility. If we could end the war, I’d be thinking about that,” he said.
Mr Trump noted that he was already scheduled to be in the United Arab Emirates tomorrow on the third and final leg of his Gulf tour.
But when asked about visiting Turkey, he added: “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is already planning to travel to Istanbul on Friday.
“Marco is going and Marco has been very effective,” Mr Trump said.
Russia said its delegation would be in Istanbul on tomorrow, but has given no details on who it will send.
‘His war’
Asked by AFP in a briefing who would travel from Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to answer.
“The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15,” he said.
Mr Peskov added that he would provide an update “when we get the relevant instructions from the president”, but “no such instructions have been received yet.”
Mr Zelensky has urged Mr Putin to come himself, saying that skipping the talks would signal an unwillingness by Moscow to seek peace and should be met with massive Western sanctions and more military aid for Kyiv.
“This is his war,” Mr Zelensky said yesterday.
“Therefore, the negotiations should be with him.”
Mr Trump took office vowing to end the conflict immediately and had put heavy pressure on Mr Zelensky, whom he berated during a televised White House meeting on 28 February.
Since then the Trump administration has voiced frustration with Russia, which has snubbed an offer backed by Ukraine for an initial 30-day ceasefire.
Mr Rubio has repeatedly threatened to give up on Russia-Ukraine diplomacy without progress, saying the US has other priorities.
Despite the prospect of talks, the two sides’ positions on how the fighting should end remain far apart and there have been few signs either is willing to make concessions.
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‘Dictated peace’
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who in the past criticised the level of Western support for Ukraine, said he would also seek to persuade Mr Putin to negotiate.
But Russian state media said Mr Lula’s plane had stopped in Moscow after visiting Beijing, with RIA Novosti saying the Brazilian leader did not meet with Mr Putin.
Earlier, Mr Lula had told reporters in Beijing: “I’ll try to talk to Putin.”
He added: “It costs me nothing to say, ‘hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit'”.
Mr Lula last week visited Moscow to attend Russia’s Red Square military parade marking the defeat of the Nazis.
European leaders have also ramped up their pressure on Mr Putin to come to the negotiating table personally.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that there must not be any settlement in Ukraine in the form of a “dictated peace” from Moscow.
Addressing parliament, Mr Merz warned of “militarily created facts against Ukraine’s will”, saying it was “of paramount importance that the political West does not allow itself to be divided”.
As preparations for the talks carried on, fighting continued to rage.
A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least one person this afternoon, Ukrainian officials said.
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