Istanbul – A diplomatic frenzy consumed the Palais de Dolmabahçe of Istanbul on Friday, while Russia and Ukraine sat down to organize their first direct peace talks since the first months of this three -year war.
In the midst of changing plans several times, diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany were trying to sail in chaos and confusion before what could be a historic moment-or an imminent anti-climax.
Even before the talks begin, President Donald Trump predicted that there would be no progress unless he and Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved.
“I do not believe that something will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I gathered,” said Trump about his Russian counterpart while speaking with journalists Thursday evening aboard the Air Force One on the way to Abu Dhabi. “But we will have to solve it because too many people die.”
Trump said Thursday that he wanted to meet his Kremlin counterpart “as soon as we can install him.” Asked about the path, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that “such a meeting is certainly necessary”, but that he must first be “expert negotiations, consultations and long and intense preparation”.
Putin refused to be part of the delegation of Russia – a demoted mission which has made anger the Ukrainian and American envoys who have traveled here.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the Russian team does not contain “no one who really makes decisions”. His own emissaries will be led by the Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov.
“We are ready for a complete and unconditional ceasefire,” said UMEROV in a statement on Friday, adding that “peace is only possible if Russia demonstrates preparation for concrete actions.”
The unbalanced confrontation saw the Secretary of State Marco Rubio arriving at the palace despite a non-presentation of his Russian counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov. Trump’s Ukrainian envoy, Keith Kellogg, could not hide his anger and looked furious while the officials swarmed in this manor of the Ottoman era.
Russia has denied charges that it sends a weakened list.
“Our official delegation was approved by the presidential decree and he has all the skills and powers necessary to carry out negotiations,” the head of his delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said on Thursday at the Russian consulate in Istanbul.
It was the first face -to -face meeting between Russia and Ukraine since the failure of the April 2022 talks, two months after Russia rolled its tanks on the other side of the border.
Today, the Gulf between the demands of both parties remains as wide as the Bospore which closes Istanbul in two.
Russian officials say they see talks as a chance to restart what they call “peace negotiations”. In reality, their conditions of peace – interrupting the war that Russia began by invading Ukraine in February 2022 – is equivalent to a Ukrainian surrender. Kyiv said that she would never accept these conditions, in particular by agreeing to never join NATO and accept permanent “neutrality” between Moscow and the West.
NBC News asked the Russian team on Thursday if Putin was ready to compromise – there was no answer.
Rather, Ukraine wishes a fire of 30 cees as a base on which to build future diplomatic victories. His European supporters say they will reach Russia with other sanctions if they do not agree. Although often accused of being much softer on Russia than on Ukraine, Trump also suggested that he could strike Putin with sanctions if he does not feel enough progress.
The talks in Istanbul are surrounded by “smoke and mirrors,” said Jonathan Eyal, international director of the Royal United Services Institute, a reflection group in London.
“These are not negotiations between the two parties willing to explore a real cease-fire,” he said. The parties “try to capture the public account of which is the obstacle to these discussions – and to avoid the anger and anger of President Trump”.
Eyal compares the negotiations to “a set of musical chairs – when the music stops, who remains standing?” That is to say: “When Mr. Trump finally loses patience, who does he blame that he did not make a cease-fire? This is the whole game.”
Friday began with a meeting between officials from Ukraine, the United States, Great Britain, Germany and France. These parties “coordinated our posts” before the key meeting with Russia taking place later during the day, said UMEROV.
While the officials spoke in Türkiye, through the Black Sea, violence continued in Ukraine.
Russia fired 112 drones on kyiv, Odessa, Zytomyr, Chernihiv and Mykolaïv, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Most of them have been killed, but a small number has passed and caused unpertified damage, he said.
Keir Simmons reported to Istanbul and Alexander Smith in London.
