Closing summary
It’s nearly 10.30pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is sending a delegation, led by his defence minister Rustem Umerov, to peace talks in Istanbul with Russia, paving the way for the first direct negotiations between the two countries since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Zelenskyy will not be attending the Istanbul talks himself, after Vladimir Putin refused to travel to Turkey.
Vladimir Putin stayed away from proposed peace talks, leaving Zelenskyy waiting in the Turkish capital after challenging the Russian president to face-to-face negotiations. Putin instead dispatched a second-tier team of aides and deputy ministers to Istanbul, which Zelenskyy described as a “dummy delegation”.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, met with the Russian delegation at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul on Thursday evening. The head of the Russian delegation in Turkey, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow was “ready for possible compromises” and that it considered the talks as a “continuation” of peace talks that collapsed shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he will meet with Fidan and a senior Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on Friday. Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to join talks at the Dolmabahçe Palace, though it remains unclear what role they will play. Rubio said the US “doesn’t have high expectations for what will happen tomorrow.”
Rubio said it had become “abundantly clear” that Donald Trump and Putin must hold “frank and direct” talks. “I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until President Trump and President Putin interact directly on this topic,” Rubio told reporters. He said the “level of the Russian delegation in Turkey is “certainly not indicative” of a breakthrough in peace talks.
Zelenskyy said Putin’s decision not to attend talks in Ankara showed that Russia was not taking efforts to end the war seriously. The Ukrainian president said he had decided to send officials from Ankara to Istanbul “out of respect” for Donald Trump and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Donald Trump said he did not expect progress on Ukraine until he meets Putin in person. Trump suggested he might still travel to Turkey on Friday “if something happened” at the talks. But by nightfall on Thursday, there was little sign that any last-minute summit involving the US president was in the works.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Zelenskyy was “pathetic” for demanding Putin attend peace talks in Istanbul. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson accused the Ukrainian leader of being a “clown and loser”.
Keir Starmer accused Putin of “dragging his feet” after the Russian leader failed to show for peace talks in Turkey. Meanwhile the UK defence secretary John Healey, said Ukraine’s allies “need to act” and “put pressure on Putin” amid uncertainty over peace talks in Turkey.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has been in a meeting with a Russian delegation led by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky in Istanbul this evening.
A source confirmed to Agence-France-Presse that the meeting at the Dolmabahçe palace is under way.
Vladimir Putin has fired Russia’s chief of land forces, Gen Oleg Salyukov, the Kremlin confirmed.
Salyukov, 70, had been in charge of Russia’s land forces since 2014, overseeing involvement in the Syrian civil war and the offensive on Ukraine.
Less than a week ago, he was running the Victory Day military parade in Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.
Salyukov has been appointed a deputy to ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who was removed from his post last year and made secretary of the Russian security council.
Here’s the moment on Air Force One earlier today when Trump cast doubt on the peace talks in Turkey – telling reporters “nothing’s going to happen” until he and Vladimir Putin sit down for direct negotiations.
Turkey's foreign minister to meet Russian delegation in Istanbul
The Turkish foreign ministry has just announced that Ankara’s top diplomat, Hakan Fidan, will meet the Russian delegation led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Vladimir Putin, at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul this evening.
Despite what appears to be Fidan’s efforts to spur the talks, which both the Russian news agency Tass and Reuters are saying will be held tomorrow, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has meanwhile told reporters that only a meeting between Putin and US president Donald Trump would be enough to power a breakthrough.
Rubio told reporters in Antalya, where he held talks with his Nato counterparts, that he will meet with Fidan and a Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul tomorrow, but expressed skepticism about the talks between Russia and Ukraine. He said:
It’s my assessment that I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until the president [Trump] and president Putin interact directly on this topic.
Trump earlier today said “nothing is going to happen” until he meets Putin.
It’s almost 9pm local time in Istanbul, and there’s not a lot more clarity on these talks than there was when reporters began gathering outside the Dolmabahçe palace first thing this morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Russian delegation as they entered for talks.
We know that a delegation from the Ukrainian side has been dispatched to Istanbul, and is expected to hold talks with a Russian delegation led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Vladimir Putin.
But plenty of other aspects remain unclear, including when each side might show up at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul or what both sides believe can be achieved from these talks, especially now that the parameters appear more limited than before.
The Ukrainians have publicly expressed skepticism, including president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that Russia sending a delegation largely composed of deputy ministers for talks is a “sign of disrespect.”
The Ukrainian side is expected to be led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, who was also instrumental during previous talks on grain exports and prisoner swaps with Russia prior to assuming his current role.
Medinsky stressed earlier today that his team has the power “to make decisions,” rather than just carrying messages to Putin, but the Ukrainians have openly expressed skepticism that anyone other than the Russian president can really negotiate on a ceasefire.
Adding to the fray tomorrow will be US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who is expected in Istanbul “for meetings with European counterparts to discuss the conflict in Ukraine and other regional issues of mutual concern,” according to the state department.
Whether Rubio or other US officials might also join these talks is likely to emerge tomorrow.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the “level” of the team sent by the Russian side to Turkey is “certainly not indicative” of a breakthrough in peace talks.
“I hope I’m 100% wrong,” Rubio told reporters.
I hope tomorrow the news says they’ve agreed to a ceasefire [and] they’ve agreed to enter serious negotiations. Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to lead to that.
Rubio said Donald Trump is the only one who can “break this logjam”. “He just wants to end the war, he doesn’t care who gets credit for it,” Rubio said.
The only way we’re going to get a breakthrough … is for the President to directly engage, probably at a personal level, and determine once and for all what it is the Russian side wants and whether peace is possible.
Rubio says Trump and Putin face-to-face meeting needed for 'breakthrough'
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, told reporters in Turkey:
I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin.
He added that he didn’t think “anything productive is actually going to happen from this point forward” until the US and Russian leaders engage in a “very frank and direct conversation”.
Rubio said Donald Trump is “willing” to have this conversation and “impatient” to the end the war. Rubio repeated:
It’s my assessment that I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until the President Trump and President Putin interact directly on this topic.
Updated
Rubio says US 'doesn't have high expectations' for Ukraine-Russia talks
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he will meet with Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, and a senior Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on Friday.
Separate talks will be held between other US officials and a “lower-level” Russian delegation, Rubio told reporters.
“I hope that those talks will be between Ukraine and Russia, with Turkish counterparts in the room, along with someone from our team or members of our team at the appropriate level,” he said, adding:
But I want to be frank, I don’t think we don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.
Turkey is ready to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin for peace talks “when they are ready”, according to Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan met Zelenskyy in the Turkish capital of Ankara earlier today, after Vladimir Putin refused to travel to Turkey for face-to-face talks with the Ukrainian leader.
In a statement, the Turkish presidency said Erdoğan stressed the need to keep dialogue channels between the sides open given the “historic opportunity” to start peace talks.
The two sides should meet on their minimum common ground, Erdoğan added.
Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has given some very brief comments at a rather hastily arranged press conference outside the Russian consulate in Istanbul.
As if to emphasise that the entire Russian team might be about to leave at any moment, the engine on a nearby diplomatic black Mercedes sedan was loudly left running the entire time, almost drowning out Medinsky’s comments. He said:
We view these talks as a continuation of the 2022 process that was interrupted by the Ukrainian side.
In a pushback against the remarks by both the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and some in Europe, he added that the Russian side “has the power to make decisions.”
There was no word on how long the Russian delegation might remain in Istanbul, with lower-level talks now expected following Zelensky’s comments in Ankara.
Shortly after finishing his very brief remarks, Medinsky got into the black sedan and swiftly sped out of the consulate grounds.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is expected to speak to reporters in Antalya shortly after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers on Thursday.
At the meeting, Rubio said Donald Trump is “open to virtually any mechanism that gets us to a just, enduring and lasting peace and that’s what he wants to see”.
He wants to end wars and that’s the hope with Russia and Ukraine. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days in that regard, but we want to see progress made.
Starmer accuses Putin of 'dragging his feet' after snubbing peace talks
Keir Starmer accused Vladimir Putin of “standing in the way” of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, after the Russian leader refused to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy face-to-face for peace talks in Turkey.
Asked what his message was to Putin, the UK prime minister said:
What’s happened today is further evidence that it’s Putin who is dragging his feet.
It is Putin who is causing the delay in a ceasefire. Ukraine has long been clear, several months ago now, that they would have a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, and we have long said that it’s Putin who is standing in the way of that peace.
The UK defence minister, John Healey, said Ukraine’s allies “need to act” and “put pressure on Putin” amid uncertainty over peace talks in Turkey.
Healey urged further sanctions on Russia as he spoke after a meeting with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, in Berlin on Thursday, Agence-France-Presse reported.
“We need to put pressure on [Vladimir] Putin that helps bring him to the negotiating table,” Healey said, adding:
Now is the time for him … to negotiate and to put an end to this fighting.
He said the Russian leader “has the power to end the war, he could travel to Istanbul and negotiate, he could order a ceasefire”.
Moscow 'ready to discuss possible compromises', says Russian delegation head
The head of Russia’s delegation at peace talks in Turkey, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow is ready to resume the negotiation process and discuss “possible compromises” with Ukraine.
“We are ready to work, to resume the Istanbul talks. We are ready for possible compromises, to discuss them,” Medinsky told state broadcaster Rossiya 24. He added:
We consider these talks as the continuation of the Istanbul peace process that was unfortunately broken off by the Ukrainian side.
Medinsky was referring to talks held between Russia and Ukraine shortly after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He added:
The delegation is determined to be constructive, to search for possible solutions and common ground. The task of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is sooner or later to achieve long-term peace by eliminating the basic root causes of the conflict.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6.30pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is sending a team, led by his defence minister Rustem Umerov, to peace talks in Istanbul with Russia, which would mark the first direct negotiations since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Zelenskyy will not be attending the Istanbul talks himself, after Vladimir Putin refused to travel to Turkey.
Vladimir Putin stayed away from proposed peace talks, leaving Zelenskyy waiting in the Turkish capital after challenging the Russian president to face-to-face negotiations. Putin instead dispatched a second-tier team of aides and deputy ministers to Istanbul, which Zelenskyy described as a “dummy delegation”.
Zelenskyy said Putin’s decision not to attend talks in Ankara showed that Russia was not taking efforts to end the war seriously. The Ukrainian president said he had decided to send officials from Ankara to Istanbul “out of respect” for Donald Trump and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Donald Trump said he did not expect progress on Ukraine until he meets Putin in person. “I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” the US president told reporters. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Zelenskyy was “pathetic” for demanding Putin attend peace talks in Istanbul. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson accused the Ukrainian leader of being a “clown and loser”. The head of Russia’s delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow sees Thursday’s talks with Ukraine as a “continuation” of failed negotiations in 2022 at the start of its invasion.
Keir Starmer accused Putin of “dragging his feet” after the Russian leader failed to show for peace talks in Turkey. “It is Putin who is causing the delay in a ceasefire,” the UK prime minister said. “Ukraine has long been clear, several months ago now, that they would have a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.”
One of Latvia’s intelligence services has warned its citizens that there may be Russian saboteurs and spies in their midst, and given them a handy guide on how to spot them.
In its annual report, the Baltic state’s Defence Intelligence and Security Service, known as MIDD, offered advice to its nearly two million-strong population on how to scope out possible operatives sent by Russia who are flying beneath the radar.
A shabby, unkempt appearance and “insufficient hygiene” might be one telltale sign an agent has gone underground. Other red flags include overly nosy small talk with locals, a short, military-style haircut, or tourists who do not know the terrain but have an unusual amount of outdoor survival equipment such as specialised medical kits, maps or radios.
MIDD, one of three Latvian security agencies, said such giveaways could help citizens ferret out agents casing “critical infrastructure and military facilities” for sabotage, plotting targeted killings or fomenting unrest.
It said Russian operatives had upped their game in recent years, with training in chameleon-like disguises that made them harder to detect.
“The Ukrainian experience shows that Russian special services are able to adapt to the environment and circumstances in which reconnaissance-saboteur groups are used,” MIDD said. “Their members may not visually correspond to the classic reconnaissance-saboteur profile.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan believes the war in Ukraine must end with “direct negotiations” between both sides.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, Zelenskyy said that the Turkish president had offered to host Ukrainian and Russian leaders “when they are ready”.
The press conference, which lasted almost an hour, has come to an end and the key takeaway here is that Zelenskyy saying that Ukraine is sending a delegation to Istanbul to discuss ceasefire plans.
He said the talks between all four sides – Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the US – could happen as soon as tonight.
Zelenskyy: Trump thought it would help to pressurise both sides
Zelenskyy says that US president Donald Trump has put more pressure on Ukraine than Russia since assuming the presidency.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, broadcast through a translator, he said: “People come to diplomacy … to avoid a dead end so you have to make steps that will make peace.”
Zelenskyy added:
You have to pressurise the side that does not want to end the war. The position of Turkey and the United States, you saw that president Trump thought it would help to pressurise both sides – I think they pressurised us more than the Russians.
Ukraine is fighting for itself. We are not ready to lose our lives and land. That does not mean we are aggressors.
He went on to say that Ukraine has “pre-conditions” ahead of negotiations with Russia, which launched a full invasion of its land in 2022. He said:
We have a lot of pre-conditions for the aggressors and if America made those steps … we went along with those steps and not only those steps, there were a lot of diplomatic steps.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday a proposed meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin could be skipped if an agreement on a ceasefire between the two countries is agreed during technical talks in Istanbul.
The Ukrainian leader told a press conference in Ankara that if Moscow failed to show any willingness to engage in the ceasefire talks, then other nations should put more political and economic pressure on Russia and impose further sanctions.
“Russia does not feel that it needs to end [the war], which means there is not enough political, economic and other pressure on the Russian Federation,” he said.
“And so we ask, if there is no ceasefire, if there are no serious decisions … we ask for appropriate sanctions.”
Russian negotiators in Istanbul are prepared to resume the negotiation process with Ukraine and to discuss possible compromises with Kyiv, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the delegation, said on Russian state TV.
Zelenskyy: Ukraine sees Russia is not serious about talks but will send delegation headed by defence minister
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a press conference in Ankara, has said Ukraine will send a delegation to talks in Istanbul headed by its defence minister, but said that in Ukraine’s view Russia is not serious about peace talks. He says the mandate of the Ukrainian delegation is to discuss a ceasefire.
More details soon …
You will be able to watch the Volodymyr Zelenskyy Ankara press conference, which is about to start, here …
Tass is carrying a flash report which says that Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation in Turkey, has said “Russia is ready to resume the negotiation process in Istanbul and possible compromises, there is a working mood.”
It is understood by the media that he will be holding a press briefing in Istanbul within the next hour.
We are still waiting for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to start his press conference in Ankara.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to hold a press conference in Ankara. We will bring you the key lines as they emerge.
Prospect of direct Ukraine-Russia talks hangs in balance as Turkey warns there must be 'compromise'
Ruth Michaelson is in Istanbul for the Guardian, and this is her latest report, summing up recent activity:
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting between Nato foreign ministers in the southern city of Antalya, told reporters that both Russia and Ukraine must “compromise,” in order to achieve peace.
“If the parties’ positions are harmonised and trust is established, a very important step towards peace will have been taken. We have enough reasons to be hopeful,” he said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Russian president Vladimir Putin still has no plans to travel to Turkey for talks.
“There are no such plans at the current time. There is a delegation of Russian negotiators in Istanbul who are waiting for their Ukrainian counterparts who have not yet turned up,” he said.
Asked whether Putin might show up in Istanbul if US president Donald Trump chooses to, perhaps alongside US secretary of state Marco Rubio who currently in Antalya and due in Istanbul tomorrow, Peskov said: “It is premature to say what kind of participation will be required and at what level because we do not know if the Ukrainian negotiators will show up or not and how the negotiations will go.”
Trump meanwhile told reporters during a meeting with executives in Qatar that “I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there.”
The head of the Russian delegation, and aide to Putin, Vladimir Medinsky has reportedly said on his Telegram channel that he has arrived in Istanbul as is “ready for serious and professional work.”
Prior to a meeting with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte this morning, Rubio said: “I will say this and I’ll repeat it, that there is no military solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This war is going to end not through a military solution but through a diplomatic one, and the sooner an agreement can be reached on ending this war, the less people will die and the less destruction there will be. And ultimately that’s what the president’s goal is.”
He added: “The president of the US has been abundantly clear he wants the war to end. He’s open to virtually any mechanism that gets us to a just, enduring, and lasting peace, and that’s what he wants to see. He wants to see an end to wars; he wants to keep wars from happening.”
For now all eyes in Istanbul are focused on a potential Ukrainian delegation who could show up here following Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier this afternoon.
Reuters is reporting that Ukrainian diplomatic sources said they are considering sending a team to speak with the Russian delegation in Istanbul. The Ukrainian side will be looking to see what their Russian counterparts have to say, but more importantly to see whether they are empowered by Moscow to have “a serious conversation.”
If the Russian delegation is not serious about the talks, they said, “we will have the right to conclude that this is a Russian charade, not meaningful work for peace.”
Updated
A Ukrainian diplomatic source has told the Reuters news agency that it is still being considered whether to send a delegation to speak to the Russian delegation that has arrived in Istanbul.
The source said if the Russian delegation was willing to have a “serious conversation”, the Ukrainian side might engage with the team, but if the Russian delegation failed to show any kind of serious approach towards the talks, “we will have the right to conclude that this is a Russian charade, not meaningful work for peace.”
Trump: 'Nothing's going to happen' on Ukraine peace until he meets directly with Putin
US president Donald Trump has said that nothing will happen with any prospective peace talks until he and his Russian counterpart discuss it directly.
Donald Trump was speaking abour Air Force One, Reuters reports, and told the media on the plane, just prior to landing in Dubai, that “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.”
Russia’s failure to send a top-level delegation to expected talks today in Istanbul has reduced optimism that any deal could be made quickly.
Updated
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made some points about the potential for Vladimir Putin to take part directly in peace talks during his daily press briefing earlier today.
Peskov said there were no plans as yet for Putin to travel, Reuters reports, quoting him saying “There are no such plans at the current time. There is a delegation of Russian negotiators in Istanbul who are waiting for their Ukrainian counterparts who have not yet turned up.”
Asked if the presence of US president Donald Trump in Turkey would make a difference, Peskov said “It is premature to say what kind of participation will be required, and at what level, because we do not know if the Ukrainian negotiators will show up or not and how the negotiations will go.”
Russia and Ukraine must “compromise” on the path toward peace, and Turkey hopes intensive discussions between the sides will achieve results, Reuters quotes the Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan as saying.
Speaking on the sidelines of an informal Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in Antalya, Fidan repeats that his country supports the peace efforts. He speaks as Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to begin talks in Istanbul.
Here’s a little more information from Reuters on the Estonian claims a Russian jet entered Nato airspace.
The former nation’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna says the aircraft was flying over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a “shadow fleet” defying Western sanctions on Moscow.
Russia, which regards sanctions as a malign attempt to crush its economy, says all its ships have free passage in the Baltic – and any attempt to stop them is dangerous.
Estonia’s navy says the unflagged Jaguar ship, which went onto a UK sanctions list last week, refused to cooperate when asked to stop and was then escorted to Russian waters. Tsahkna tells reporters:
The Russian Federation sent a fighter jet to check the situation, and this fighter jet violated Nato territory for close to one minute. [The] Russian Federation is ready to protect the ‘shadow fleet’... The situation is really serious.
Western nations say Moscow is using a “shadow fleet” of more than 100 ships to dodge sanctions Putin views as a part of a campaign to quash its global influence. Moscow sends millions of barrels of oil and fuel every day to buyers in China and India, and has warned against any attempt to violate its vessels’ freedom of movement.
The tanker was sailing in international waters between Estonia and Finland, and refused Estonian navy requests to change course, a spokesperson for the Baltic country’s defence forces tells Reuters.
A Russian SU-35 fighter jet approached the tanker and circled it, flying in international airspace except when it violated Estonian airspace briefly as it first approached the scene, the spokesperson adds.
Wrapping up his visit to Qatar, the US president Donald Trump stops by a US installation at the centre of American involvement in the Middle East to tell troops his “priority is to end conflicts, not start them”. According to the AP, he adds:
But I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners.
Trump has used his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region. The installation, al-Udeid Air Base, was a major staging ground during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It houses some 8,000 troops – down from about 10,000 at the height of those wars.
Tass is carrying a quote from Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who was accusing western European countries of not really seeking peace in Ukraine.
On the day that Russia has sent a low-level delegation to Istanbul to potentially conduct direct talks with a Ukrainian delegation, Lavrov is quoted as saying:
There is a lot of evidence that neither Berlin, nor Paris, nor Brussels, nor especially London really want any peace at all in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have described the delegation sent by Russia to Turkey as “of rather low rank and with an unclear mandate,” while Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed it as a “theatre prop”.
Pjotr Sauer is in Ankara for the Guardian
One notable member of Russia’s delegation in Turkey is Igor Kostyukov, head of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, which has been behind some of Moscow’s most notorious covert operations in recent years.
Kostyukov has been sanctioned by the US for his alleged role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election, and by the UK for the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, which killed Dawn Sturgess.
Most recently, the GRU has been accused of orchestrating a series of sabotage operations across Europe, including arson attacks, cyber intrusions, data theft, and attempts to target undersea cables.
Ukraine says Russian delegation for talks in Turkey is 'of rather low rank and with an unclear mandate'
Ruth Michaelson is in Istanbul for the Guardian
As Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Ankara, there is speculation in Istanbul about where the Russian delegation might be, and when they are expected to show up at the Dolmabahçe palace for talks.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said the talks have been moved to the afternoon at the request of the Turkish authorities.
A statement from Zelensky’s office said his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will “define Ukraine’s next diplomatic steps to bring a full and unconditional ceasefire, achieve a durable peace, and ensure security.”
The Ukrainian president “is accompanied by a high-level Ukrainian delegation capable of preparing the necessary decisions,” they added. “We note that Russia has also sent a delegation to Turkey – unfortunately, of rather low rank and with an unclear mandate. Further updates on Ukraine’s steps will follow.”
Zakharova previously said that the delegation dispatched from Moscow is “ready for serious work,” despite the message that comes from sending a group composed of several deputy ministers and a presidential aide to Vladimir Putin rather than the leader himself.
Ruth Michaelson is at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul for the Guardian. Here is some background on the building.
The Dolmabahçe palace is a grand sweeping waterfront palace on shores the European side of the Bosphorus, ringed by a series of outer buildings including one where the peace talks are expected to take place today. The Turkish authorities frequently use the outer buildings of Dolmabahçe for government business, including previous rounds of Ukrainian-Russian talks or press conferences with cabinet officials, held in a wooden-vaulted stone meeting room with opulent modern murals.
The palace has a history as a site of government business, inhabited by six Ottoman sultans and the last caliph Abdülmecid II after construction was completed in 1856. After Turkey became a republic, its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stayed periodically at Dolmabahçe, including residing at the palace during a period of illness until his death in 1938.
The almost 15,000-square-metre palace is the largest in Turkey, with 285 rooms and 44 halls including a grand ceremonial hall intended for the Ottoman sultans to receive other heads of state, 68 toilets and 6 Turkish baths. The cost of construction of the Dolmabahçe palace was also linked to the debts that later led to the Ottoman empire being branded “the sick man of Europe,” billed at 35 tonnes of gold worth, almost $2bn today.
No time has been set for talks between officials from Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, where there is currently a technical-level Russian delegation and some US officials, a Turkish foreign ministry source has told Reuters
“No time has been set for a meeting yet. In this respect, there is no question of a postponement,” the source said.
Zelenskyy: Russian delegation that arrived in Istanbul is largely a 'theatre prop'
Pjotr Sauer is in Ankara for the Guardian
In his first comments after landing in Ankara, Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian delegation that had arrived in Istanbul as largely a “theatre prop.”
“We’re in contact with the American side, I believe they’ll also be present in Turkey at a high level,” he said. “As for the Russians, we’ll see. Nothing has been confirmed officially, but from what we’ve observed, it looks more like a theatre prop than a serious one.”
“What we do know for certain,” he added, “is who actually makes decisions on the Russian side. And we will act accordingly.”
The Kremlin has said its delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline aide to Vladimir Putin who headed the only previous round of direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in 2022.
Notably, Russia is not sending its two top diplomats – Yuri Ushakov and Sergei Lavrov – both of whom have taken part in earlier high-level negotiations with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
Moscow’s decision to once again appoint Medinsky suggests the Kremlin is attempting to revive talks based on the same framework as in 2022 – a round widely seen as fruitless due to Russia’s maximalist demands, including restrictions on Ukraine’s military and sovereignty.
“This is all just a performance – a simulation of peace talks,” Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who resigned over the war told the Guardian.
Bondarev said Putin proposed the talks in Turkey with the aim of convincing Trump that he was committed to peace, while continuing the fighting on the ground.
Updated
As we await a decision over whether there will be any direct talks taking place in Istanbul later today, Russia’s military has announced that it has seized two further settlements in eastern Ukraine.
Reuters reports that Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plane has landed at Esenboğa airport in Ankara, and is expected to speak with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan within the hour.
Pjotr Sauer is a foreign correspondent for the Guardian
I’m at Ankara airport, where a small group of reporters has gathered to await the arrival of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s jet. The Ukrainian president is expected to meet with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the capital later today, after traveling from Poland with a top-level delegation.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, a Russian delegation led by ultra-conservative Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky landed early on Thursday. But the day’s events have been marred by confusion and uncertainty, with no clear indication of when – or even if – the first round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place.
For now, Ukraine’s delegation – which includes defence minister Rustem Umerov and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak - is expected to remain in Ankara.
According to one source familiar with the plans, Zelenskyy may dispatch his top aides to Istanbul only after concluding his meeting with Erdoğan – suggesting that any negotiations with the Russian side would likely begin later in the afternoon, if they happen at all. Zelenskyy himself has indicated he will not travel to Istanbul unless Vladimir Putin also agrees to attend.
Reuters has a quick snap that according to the Russian foreign ministry, talks will begin this afternoon in Istanbul. It is just approaching noon there now.
Unclear what format or when Russia-Ukraine talks may take place in Istanbul today
Ruth Michaelson is in Istanbul for the Guardian
Outside the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul, there is a large crowd of expectant media and no sign of any negotiating teams so far.
Cameras from Turkish, Russian, and Polish news channels have their lenses trained on the grand wooden door and Turkish presidential seal that mark the entrance to the palace courtyard, which runs alongside the grand Ottoman-era building where talks are expected to be held sometime today.
The Dolmabahçe palace has been the site of previous negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv that secured a deal to allow the export of Ukrainian grain in 2022. Failed peace talks also took place between the Russian and Ukrainian sides in the southern Turkish city of Antalya and in Istanbul that year.
But with Russian leader Vladimir Putin no longer expected in Turkey for this round of negotiations about a potential ceasefire in Ukraine, it’s unclear what the potential outcome of today’s talks might be, or even what talks in Istanbul could look like.
Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine, prompting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to state he would be waiting for Putin here in Istanbul, eager to show Washington he is serious about peace. Instead, Zelenskyy will meet with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, amid reports he will make a decision about sending a delegation to Istanbul following the meeting.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow last night that Putin held a meeting to prepare their delegation for the talks, along with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, defence minister Andrey Belousov, chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov, security council secretary Sergei Shoigu and head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov.
However it is several of their deputies who have reportedly arrived here in Istanbul and are expected to show up at the Dolmabahçe palace today. A list of delegates posted on the Kremlin website said the Russian delegation will be spearheaded by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, alongside deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin and intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.
Tass, citing Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, is reporting that Russia’s talks delegation has arrived in Istanbul.
UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, who is in Turkey for informal talks with Nato foreign ministers, has spoken about the proposed direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, which may take place in Istanbul today. PA Media quotes Lammy saying:
We come with one single message to stand by Ukraine and to ensure that we get a just and lasting, enduring peace.
And the readiness for that peace is demonstrated by president Zelenskyy being here in Turkey as well.
And of course, we watched closely as we head to these talks, noting the Russian low-level individuals who are coming to represent the Russian side.
US president Donald Trump has said today that he would go to Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey on Friday “if it is appropriate”, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian official: Zelenskyy to decide on Istanbul talks after meeting with Erdoğan
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday and after that will make a decision on talks with Russia in Istanbul, a Ukrainian official has told Reuters.
The Ukrainian president had previously proposed a face-to-face meeting in Turkey between himself and his Russian counterpart.
Russia has instead sent a low-level delegation for talks in Istanbul, after a meeting yesterday in Moscow with Vladimir Putin and senior defence and security officials. Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline Putin aide who led the only previous round of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, will lead the Russian delegation.
Earlier Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reported that a source in the Ukrainian delegation, whose makeup is still unclear, was aiming to discuss a 30-day ceasefire.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that a source at the proposed peace talks in Istanbul said the Ukrainian delegation is ready to discuss the issue of a 30-day ceasefire.
It reported that the makeup of the Ukrainian delegation remains unknown.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday that president Donald Trump is open to any mechanism that would result in a just peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Rubio, speaking ahead of an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Turkey, said the US wants to see progress made in the next couple of days, adding there was no military solution to the conflict.
Estonia reports violation of Nato airspace by Russian fighter jet
Estonia’s foreign minister has said that a Russian fighter jet violated Nato territory for a duration of one minute, Reuters reports. He described the situation as very serious. He said the jet was sent as Estonia was attempting to detain a Russian shadow fleet tanker.
In an earlier version of this block, it was incorrectly stated that the information had been provided by Estonia’s prime minister.
Updated
Reuters reports a Ukrainian official has said there has been no agreement on when talks are timed to start today. Andriy Kovalenko dismissed reports in Russian media that the scheduled start was planned at 10am (7am GMT)
Russian media is reporting that president Vladimir Putin held a meeting yesterday to prepare for the talks in Turkey, and the Kremlin has issued a short video clip of the event.
In attendance, according to the RIA news agency, were:
foreign minister Sergey Lavrov
defence minister Andrey Belousov
director of the national guard Viktor Zolotov
secretary of the security council Sergei Shoigu
chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov
FSB director Alexander Bortnikov
RIA reported that commanders of troop groups directly involved in the conflict also participated.
Estonia foreign minister: Russia sending low-level delegation to peace talks is 'slap in the face'
Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said on Thursday that Russian president Vladimir Putin sending a low-level delegation to Turkey for talks regarding the war in Ukraine was “like a slap in the face.”
Ukraine claims to have shot down 62 of 110 drones sent by Russia overnight
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, citing the air force, reported that Ukraine’s air defences shot down 62 of 110 drones fired at Ukraine overnight by Russia. 29 were lost in the air. It reported that “Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kyiv, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were affected by the attack.”
What do we know about the Istanbul talks?
Ukraine and Russia are set to hold their first direct talks since the start of Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Putin proposed the talks in a Kremlin address hours after Kyiv and European countries urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday. After Putin’s address, Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Putin in Turkey.
But the Kremlin late on Wednesday said Putin would not be attending and that instead its delegation would be led by hawkish former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, who took part in failed 2022 talks. The Kremlin had for several days declined to say who would go to Istanbul.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been critical of western support for Ukraine, urged Putin to attend the negotiations.
US President Donald Trump had said he “believes both leaders will be there” and floated the idea that he might join the talks too.
Why Turkey?
Nato member Turkey has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbours since the Russian invasion began and has twice hosted talks on the war. Representatives for Moscow and Kyiv discussed an outline to end the war in Istanbul in March 2022.
But those talks broke down following Russia’s retreat from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were found dead following a month-long occupation by Russian forces.
Contact between the warring sides has been limited since and mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues such as prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of soldiers’ remains.
Where do the two parties stand?
Russia insists the talks address what it calls the “root causes” of the conflict, including the “denazification” and demilitarisation of Ukraine, two vague terms Moscow has used to justify the invasion. It has also repeated that Ukraine must cede its territory occupied by Russian troops.
Kyiv said it won’t recognise its territories as Russian – though Zelenskyy has acknowledged that Ukraine might only get them back through diplomatic means.
The two warring parties are struggling to agree even on a ceasefire.
Ukraine agreed last month to the US proposal of an unconditional ceasefire, which Zelenskyy said was a prerequisite for negotiations. But Putin, whose troops have the momentum in parts of the frontline, rejected the proposal.
What’s next?
Zelenskyy said in Kyiv that the west should impose massive sanctions if Putin skips the meeting. He also said he would decide on Kyiv’s next “steps” depending on who Russia sends.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have warned of new sweeping sanctions against Russia if no substantial progress is reached in Turkey this week.
The EU on Wednesday approved a fresh package of sanctions on Russia, which is already subject to over 20,000 restrictive measures, clamping down on its “shadow” oil fleet.
In March, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the vital Russian oil industry as the country’s economy is strained by high military expenditures for the war. US Senator Lindsay Graham had advocated a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue buying Russian oil, gas and uranium.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia are set to go into their first direct talks in more than three years in Istanbul, but President Vladimir Putin is not included on the list of attendees.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had challenged Putin to meet him in person in Istanbul, but the Kremlin has said he will not be taking him up on the offer.
Putin had proposed holding the talks in Istanbul as a counter-offer after Ukraine and European nations last week called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. Zelenskyy agreed, but said this week that if Putin did not attend himself, it would signal he was not genuinely interested in peace.
Meanwhile Nato ministers including UK foreign secretary David Lammy will meet in Turkey on Thursday. Britain and its military allies will be working to “step up” their collective security at the gathering in Antalya, Lammy said.
Today, President Zelenskyy is in Turkey in a further demonstration of his commitment to peace, ready to enter talks direct with Russia and continuing to push for a full ceasefire as a first crucial step.
Here’s a summary of the day’s other main events:
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is due in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Thursday where he will meet with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Putin announced on Wednesday that he would send Vladimir Medinsky, a presidential adviser, to lead the Russian delegation. Also included in the delegation are Alexander Fomin, a deputy defence minister; Igor Kostyukov, an intelligence director; and Mikhail Galuzin, a deputy foreign minister. Significantly, Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, both top negotiators for the Kremlin, were not named in the Russian delegation.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is expected in Istanbul on Friday to take part in what are the first direct peace talks since failed efforts in the first weeks of the Russian full-scale invasion. Rubio met with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, on Wednesday in Antalya.
Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Wednesday that there must not be any settlement in Ukraine in the form of a “dictated peace” from Moscow. Addressing parliament, Merz warned of “militarily created facts against Ukraine’s will”, telling lawmakers it was “of paramount importance that the political west does not allow itself to be divided”.
A Russian missile attack on Wednesday killed three people at an industrial site near the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, said the regional governor, Oleh Hryhorov. Sumy sits opposite Russia’s Kursk region – a Russian missile attack on the city of Sumy on Palm Sunday killed 35 people.
