Zelensky said in Kiev that if Putin skips the meeting, the West should impose huge sanctions, stressing that he will do all possible things to achieve this and ensure a ceasefire.
Trump said in Riyadh as he began his four-day trip to the Middle East in Riyadh that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be held in the U.S. delegation at a meeting in Istanbul.
The Kremlin himself declined to say whether Putin would go to Türkiye after proposing Russia-Ukrainian talks over the weekend.
“It’s his war, so the negotiations should be with him,” Zelensky said.
Any meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials is the first direct negotiation since the early month of the Moscow invasion in February 2022.
Trump took office in January and promised a quick end to the war, but he believes the bloodshed that Kiev and Moscow failed to compromise has become increasingly frustrated.
Trump said on Monday that he is “considering” attending the talks.
“I don’t know the decision of the US president, but if he confirms his involvement, I think it will provide more motivation for Putin’s arrival,” Zelensky said in a press conference.
“Strongest” sanctions
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“Putin does not want the war to end, does not want a ceasefire, does not want any negotiations,” Zelensky said, adding that he “will do everything he can to ensure this meeting takes place.”
Authorities say Russian air strikes killed two people in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, a region bordering Russia.
Zelensky urged the United States to attack Russia with its “strongest” sanctions – Putin won’t show up – saying the rejection was “an obvious sign that they don’t want and won’t end the war.”
A spokesman for Putin declined to say Moscow will issue who will hold the talks.
‘Nazization’
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Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia will use negotiations to resolve the “root causes” of its main goals and conflict – Ukraine’s “tax payment” and “integrating new territory into the Russian Federation”.
Kiev and the West reject these narratives, saying that the Russian invasion was imperial-style land.
Putin proposed in Kiev and European countries to urge Moscow to agree to talks with Russia-Ukraine from a 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday.
Thousands have been killed and millions have been forced to flee their homes since Russia invaded Ukraine, while Moscow’s army now controls one-fifth of the country’s population – including the Crimea Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.
Putin dare not meet
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Russia has not explicitly responded to leaders in Ukraine, Britain, Germany and Poland, calling on Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, although the Kremlin apparently rejected the “Ultimmatums” in Europe.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Russia on Tuesday that he urged Putin to meet Zelensky and face new European sanctions if there is no “real progress” in Ukraine’s peace this week.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that if Moscow does not agree to a 30-day ceasefire, Europe will impose new sanctions.
Since Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has imposed 16 rounds of sanctions on Russia.
Macron has a warm working relationship with Zelensky, saying: “The Ukrainians have a clear vision that they don’t have the ability to regain everything they have done since 2014.”
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas questioned whether Putin was actually present.
“I think it’s a good move,” Carlas said at a democratic conference in Copenhagen. “But I don’t think he dares, Putin.”
Zelensky said he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday or Thursday and is preparing to meet there or in Istanbul.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul in March 2022 with the goal of stopping the conflict, but no agreement was reached.
Since then, contact between the belligerent parties has been very limited, mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues such as exchange of prisoners of war and the return of corpses of slain soldiers.
