Putin absent from Kremlin's list for Ukraine peace talks in Turkey

The Kremlin has not included Putin in its list of people going to peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday, despite Volodymyr Zelensky wanting him there.

Instead of Putin, the Russian side will send presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, it was announced by the Kremlin, the statement said. Zelensky previously said he wanted to talk with Putin directly at the meeting, and said he would try his best to make such a meeting happen.

Media reports say Trump will be a no-show, despite once saying he could go if Putin was in Istanbul. He will travel to Ankara on Thursday to see President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. He said he would go to Istanbul for direct talks with Russia, but on the condition that Putin was there too.

"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," he said in his nightly video address on Wednesday.

The last time Putin and Zelensky met each other in real life was in December 2019. The last time Russia and Ukraine tangled at the negotiating table was in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine. Warfare has gone on uninterrupted in Ukraine since then. Over the course of a year, Russian soldiers have taken control of more areas, almost all of them in Ukraine's east. Putin said on Sunday that he wants dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv to happen in Istanbul "without pre-conditions". Zelensky agreed to the meeting in person and said he expected Putin to do the same.

Putin's offer of direct talks happened after European leaders proposed a 30-day ceasefire during their Kyiv meeting on Saturday. After Trump urged Ukraine to consent to the offer on Sunday, Zelensky said he would make the trip himself.

"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally," Zelensky wrote in a social media post.