Zelensky insists he will only join Ukraine-Russia talks in Turkey this week if Putin is present

By Jessie Yeung, Ivana Kottasová, Svitlana Vlasova, Nick Paton Walsh and Andrew Carey, CNN

(CNN) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky raised the stakes ahead of a potential meeting with Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday by saying he wouldn’t hold talks with any Russian representative other than the president himself.

Zelensky said he would travel to Turkey after US President Donald Trump urged him to meet Putin. The Russian leader suggested direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in the country on Thursday in response to the ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Kyiv’s European allies on Saturday.

Asked by CNN about the goals of the possible meeting – a summit Putin has not yet agreed to attend despite proposing it himself – Zelensky said anything other than a ceasefire agreement would be a failure.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the talks in Istanbul, Trump confirmed on Tuesday.

“I’ve also been working relentlessly to end the terrible bloodshed between Russia and Ukraine and, very importantly,” Trump said during remarks at a Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “Talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could produce some pretty good results.”

Trump has said he is open to going to Turkey, but the Kremlin has so far refused to say whether Putin – or anyone else – would go. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin would announce his decision in due course. “As soon as the president considers it necessary, we will announce it,” Peskov said.

Zelensky said he would not consider meeting any other Russian representatives because “everything in Russia depends” on Putin.

“So I said that on (Thursday) I will go to Turkey and I’m ready to meet Putin and an end to the war was through direct talks with him,” Zelensky told reporters at a news conference.

It comes amid growing international pressure on Moscow to agree to the US-backed plan for a 30 day ceasefire in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron warned Tuesday that if Russia doesn’t comply with those demands, sanctions – including on financial services – could be imposed “in the coming days in close liaison with the United States.”

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitor, said on Monday that Russian officials already appeared to be setting conditions for Putin to reject the meeting, quoting several key aides as questioning Zelensky’s intentions and calling the proposed meeting “pure spectacle.”

Two European diplomatic sources told CNN they have low expectations for Thursday and doubt Putin will actually show up.

Zelensky also said he offered Trump the option of joining the meeting, saying the presence of the US president would “give additional impulse for Putin to fly in.”

He said earlier that his country “would appreciate” Trump’s attendance, and said he supported the US president’s call for direct talks between himself and Putin.

Top Trump administration officials plan to be in Turkey this week, but the president’s possible attendance remains an open question that will largely be dictated by whether his Russian counterpart attends, according to a senior administration official.

He is visiting the Gulf this week, making stops in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, for his first major overseas trip since the start of his second term. He said he could detour to Turkey “if I thought it would be helpful.”

“I think you may have a good result out of the Thursday meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday, I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen.”

Whether Trump attends or not, US envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, and Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff both plan to be in Istanbul for the talks, the senior administration official said. Another source familiar with the plans also confirmed Witkoff’s attendance. As of Tuesday, the plan was for the US officials to observe the Turkish-facilitated talks between the Ukrainians and Russians.

Frontline largely static

For months, Ukraine and its allies tried to convince the Trump administration that Putin acts in bad faith, and have said Russia’s agreeing to a ceasefire could function as a test of whether it is serious about achieving the peace the US president has long demanded.

Ukraine’s major European allies had given Russia an ultimatum on Saturday: agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine or face “massive” new sanctions.

Putin ignored the ultimatum, proposing the talks instead. Direct talks between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have not happened since the early weeks of Moscow’s unprovoked full-scale invasion in 2022.

Speaking on Tuesday, Zelensky said he expects the US and Europe to impose new “strong” sanctions on Russia if Moscow doesn’t sign up to the ceasefire on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine doesn’t seem to suggest Russia is preparing for a ceasefire. Russian troops have been inching forward in several key areas along the frontline and launching near daily drones and missile attacks against Ukrainian cities. Still, the frontline in eastern Ukraine has not moved dramatically in recent months, with neither side able to break through.

The ISW said on Monday that Russia has reportedly deployed a largely ceremonial regiment of the Federal Security Service (FSB) to the frontline, which the ISW said was “likely in an effort to generate fear of more rapid future Russian advances.”

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CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Alejandra Jaramillo, Alayna Treene, Mariya Knight and Gul Tuysuz contributed to this report.