Istanbul-a diplomatic madness consumed by the Dolmabahi Palace in Istanbul was consumed on Friday, as Russia and Ukraine sat for the first direct peace talks since the first months of this three-year war.
Amid repeated plans, diplomats from Moscow, Kiev, Washington, London, Paris and Berlin were trying to move in chaos and confusion before it could be a historical-or-anxious moment.
Before the talks started, President Donald Trump expected that there would be no progress unless he and President Vladimir Putin participated.
“I don’t think anything will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I meet together,” Trump said of his Russian counterpart while talking to reporters late Thursday on one flight to Abu Dhabi. “But we will have to solve it because many people die.”
Trump said on Thursday that he wanted to meet his Kremlin counterpart, “Once we can prepare him,” Trump said on Thursday. When asked about what is on the way, Putin Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that “such a meeting is definitely necessary”, but there should be “expert negotiations, consultations and long preparation.”
Putin refused to be part of the Russian delegation – a task that has been ranked that angered Ukrainians and American envoys who traveled here.
Ukrainian President Foludmir Zelinski indicated that the Russian team does not contain “anyone who is already making decisions.” His envoy will lead the Minister of Defense Rustum Umerov.
“We are ready for a full and unconditional ceasefire,” Umerov said in a statement on Friday. Adding that “peace is only possible if Russia shows the readiness of concrete actions.”
The unbalanced confrontation witnessed Foreign Minister Rubio, his arrival in the palace, despite his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, did not appear. Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Keel, was unable to hide his anger and seemed angry while officials were wandering in this palace in the Ottoman era.
Russia denied accusations that it is sending a weak list.
“Our official delegation was approved by the presidential decree and has all the competencies and powers necessary to conduct negotiations.”
This was the first face -to -face meeting between Russia and Ukraine since the failed talks in April 2022, two months after Russia entered its tanks across the border.
Today, the gap between the demands of the two sides is still extensive like the Bosphorus that fixes Istanbul in two parts.
Russian officials say they see the talks an opportunity to restart what they call “peace negotiations”. In fact, their circumstances for peace – which stopped the war in which Ukraine’s conquest in February 2022 – is tantamount to Ukrainian surrender. Kiev said that she will never accept these conditions, which include approval not to join NATO and agree to the permanent “neutrality” between Moscow and the West.
On Thursday, NBC News asked if Putin was ready for settlement – there was no answer
Instead, Ukraine wants to get 30 managers as a basis for building future diplomatic victories. Its European supporters say they will strike Russia with more sanctions if this does not agree. Although he is often accused of being softer to Russia than Ukraine, Trump has also suggested that he could hit Putin with sanctions if he felt that no adequate progress has been made.
Jonathan Eyal, international director of the Royal United Services Institute, a research center in London, said the talks in Istanbul are shrouded in “smoke and mirrors.”
“These are not negotiations between the two sides ready to explore the real ceasefire,” said Eyal. Instead, the parties “are trying to pick up the public narration for those who are in front of these discussions – and avoid President Trump’s anger and anger.”
Eyal resembles negotiations with “music chairs game – when music stops, who is still standing?” This means: “When Mr. Trump finally loses his patience, whoever blames him for his failure to achieve a ceasefire? This is the entire game.”
On Friday, a meeting between officials from Ukraine, the United States, Britain, Germany and France began. Omrov said that these parties “coordinated our positions” before the main meeting with Russia, later in the day.
While the suits in Türkiye spoke, violence continued across the Black Sea in Ukraine.
Russia has launched 112 drones in Kiev, Odisa, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and MykolaV, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. He said that most of them were dropped, but a small number of unlimited damage.
Kiir Simons of Istanbul and Alexander Smith mentioned London.
