A Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul on Thursday morning for what is formally being described as the first direct negotiations with Ukraine in over three years.
But the headline news is elsewhere: President Vladimir Putin will not be attending. Instead, the Kremlin has appointed Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister and the face of Russia’s failed 2022 peace talks, to lead the delegation. According to a presidential decree published Wednesday night, Medinsky will be joined by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, and GRU intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov. A broader group of senior advisers from Russia’s foreign and defense ministries, as well as the presidential administration, will also be involved.
Also present during the preparatory meeting held in Moscow were newly appointed Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the delegation was “ready for serious work,” although concrete details about the agenda remained unclear just hours before talks were expected to begin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking from Ankara after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, dismissed the composition of the Russian delegation with open sarcasm. “Nothing has been confirmed officially, but from what we’ve seen, it looks more like a theater prop than a serious one,” he told The Guardian. “What we do know for certain is who actually makes decisions on the Russian side. And we will act accordingly.”
Zelensky had previously made clear he would only meet with Putin in person, explicitly refusing to engage with lower-level officials. A Ukrainian official told AFP that the president would not travel to Istanbul and would instead remain in Ankara, where he continued diplomatic meetings throughout the day.
Later in the afternoon, Zelensky announced that Ukraine’s delegation would be headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and would include military and intelligence officials. “The key issue in these talks will be a cease-fire,” he added.
Meanwhile, at the NATO meeting in Antalya, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Rubio expressed frustration over the lack of progress in the peace process and suggested that Washington is now open to “virtually any mechanism” to bring an end to the war.
“We are at a very delicate moment,” Rubio said. “The goal remains a negotiated, lasting solution that prevents future conflicts.”
In Istanbul, dozens of journalists gathered outside Dolmabahçe Palace, one of several rumored venues for the talks. Turkish authorities did not confirm the location or the start time, while the Russian side indicated discussions could begin late Thursday afternoon or evening.
Behind the scenes, both Kyiv and Moscow appear eager to demonstrate diplomatic intent to Washington—particularly to President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for a swift resolution to the war. Currently touring the Middle East, Trump initially suggested he might attend the summit, only to reverse course. “Nothing’s going to happen until I speak directly with Putin,” he said in Dubai.
Earlier in the day, Trump had floated the idea during a business breakfast in Qatar, saying, “I was thinking about going, but it’s tough.” Hours later, he clarified: “Nothing’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together.”
Asked whether he was disappointed by Putin’s no-show in Istanbul, Trump replied sharply: “Why would I be? We just closed $4 trillion in deals.”
The bluntest words came from a Russian diplomatic source quoted by The Moscow Times: “Zelensky is only suitable for signing a capitulation. Period.” The Kremlin has made clear that Putin does not view the Ukrainian president as an equal counterpart and would only agree to a direct meeting “in the event of a public surrender.”
Putin and Zelensky have met only once before—at the Normandy Format summit in Paris in 2019, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. That meeting failed to produce lasting results. Since then, Moscow has portrayed Kyiv’s leadership as a “neo-Nazi regime,” often invoking Soviet imagery from World War II to justify its military campaign.
