Zelensky challenged Putin to meet him in person during the talks, and U.S. President Donald Trump also appeared to urge Kremlin leaders to attend the negotiating table.
The Istanbul negotiations will be the first direct peace talks since discussions took place in the first few weeks of the conflict.
After several days of refusals, the Kremlin named it the negotiating team later on Wednesday.
Russia will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a tough aide to Putin and former culture minister who participated in the 2022 negotiations.
Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin Foreign Policy Assistant Yuri Ushakov were not named in the delegation.
Zelensky said this week that Putin’s absence clearly shows that he is not really interested in peace.
“I’m waiting to see who will arrive from Russia. Then, I’ll decide what steps Ukraine should take,” Zelensky said on Wednesday.
Trump’s “possibility”
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If Putin also appears, Trump proposes to go to Türkiye on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to hold part of the talks in Istanbul on Friday.
Medinsky is considered influential in promoting Russia’s historical claims in Ukraine’s history and wrote a written textbook that promoted nationalist views on Russian history, which has been questioned by independent historians.
The other three negotiators were appointed Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin and Russian GRU Military Intelligence Director Igor Kostyukov.
Putin proposed direct negotiations last weekend and was under enormous international pressure – including some allies – to meet with Zelensky.
Trump surfaced if Putin participated in the mediation.
“I don’t know where he (Putin) will be,” Trump told reporters during his tour of the Middle East.
“I know he wishes me there, and that’s a possibility. If we can end the war, I’ll consider it.”
He said he had a timeline full of time, but added: “It doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it to save a lot of lives.”
“His war”
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Zelensky said this week that Putin skipping negotiations would show his reluctance to seek peace and should accept massive Western sanctions and more military aid to Keefe.
“It’s his war,” Zelensky said Tuesday. “So the negotiations should be with him.”
Trump quickly ended the conflict but was frustrated by the lack of progress in Ukraine and Russia.
Moscow has called on several calls in Ukraine in recent weeks, initially a 30-day ceasefire.
Despite the prospect of the talks, the positions on how the battle should end remain far away, with few signs of willingness to make concessions.
His office said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who used to criticize the West’s level of support for Ukraine, urged Putin to attend the phone in person on Wednesday.
Lula said before the call: “I don’t say anything, ‘Hey Comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and go to negotiations,”
European leaders also urged Putin to travel to Türkiye.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that Ukraine cannot have any solution in Ukraine in the form of “order peace” in Moscow.
Meers warned in his speech in parliament that “the will of Ukraine has established facts” and told parliamentarians that “it is crucial that the political West does not allow itself to be divided.”
In preparation for the talks, the battle continued to incite. Ukrainian officials said Ukrainian officials went on strike against at least three people in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumi who killed Russia.
