Trump Shares Big Update Ahead of Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks

As much-hyped Moscow-Kyiv talks in Turkey turned into a massive shambles, U.S. President Donald Trump declared on Thursday that there would be no progress toward peace in Ukraine until he meets with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Look, nothing is gonna happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One en route to the United Arab Emirates. “And he wasn’t gonna go … He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we are gonna have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was prepared to meet with Putin in Turkey for discussions, but Putin sent a lower-level team instead, which enraged Kyiv and cast doubt on the possibility of any conversations taking place.

A high-level delegation from Kyiv, including Zelenskyy, his senior advisor, and the foreign and defense ministers, hoped to demonstrate to Trump that Russia is the true peacemaker’s nemesis.

Their goal was to maintain President Trump’s interest in Ukraine while simultaneously pressuring Russia to declare an unconditional ceasefire.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed Zelenskyy and warned that Ukraine will retaliate militarily if the battle were to cease in any way. Ukraine has been fighting Russian aggression for over ten years.

Moscow has once again disregarded a ceasefire and has not budged from any of its initial war objectives since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. These objectives include, among others, the disarmament of Ukraine, the reestablishment of Russian language and cultural dominance, and the rejection of NATO ambitions.

As far as the Ukrainians were concerned, Istanbul was just another “Russian charade.”

“The Russian chair in Turkey is de facto empty. Because it makes little difference whether Mr. Nobody, sent by Putin, and his insignificant colleagues sit in their chairs or not. They are not the ones making decisions. And the person who does — Putin — is either afraid to come or does not take the U.S.-led peace effort seriously,” said a Ukrainian diplomatic official who was granted anonymity to discuss the topic.

“Still, we are considering sending someone at the appropriate level to at least hear what these people have to say and whether they are able to decide at least anything. If they are willing to have a serious conversion, we may engage in it. Otherwise, we will have the right to conclude that this is a Russian charade, not meaningful work for peace,” the official added.

Following his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Zelenskyy said that he would be dispatching a group to meet with Russians and Americans in Istanbul.

The mission would be headed by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. He stated that he consented to that because he respected Erdoğan and Trump.

However, following Putin’s rejection of the meeting, the leader of Ukraine has decided not to attend. Erdoğan and Zelenskyy will be attending the European Political Community conference in Tirana on Friday instead.

“Our team will be there ready to discuss ceasefire tomorrow. We will not recognize all occupied territories as Russian. We want a demonstration of pressure on Russia, on Putin. Sanctions from Europe and United States as a minimum,” Zelenskyy said.

If these discussions go through, it will be the first formal meeting between Russia and Ukraine since a summit in Istanbul in March 2022, which was derailed when news broke of a Russian-led slaughter near Kyiv’s village of Bucha.

Just before the scheduled meetings, the Russian military launched an attack on Ukraine using 145 drones, wounding hundreds of people as they persisted in pushing forward on the massive battlefield in the east of the country.

“Russians are getting ready to continue their offensive in Ukraine while pushing for negotiations, and that’s a normal practice, let’s be honest,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, told reporters Wednesday in Kyiv. “Talks do not mean a solution.”

Dnipro, an industrial bastion in eastern Ukraine, is the latest target for Kremlin forces.