Key Events
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna Russian president said Thursday Vladimir Putin Sending a low-level delegation to Türkiye to hold talks on Ukraine's war is like "a slap on the face".
Ukrainian State Broadcasting Corporation quoted the Air Force's Sostiln as saying that Ukraine's air defense measures had dropped 62 of the 110 drones that Russia opened fire on Ukraine. 29 people were lost in the air. It reported: "The Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kyiv and Ivano-Frankivsk areas were affected by the attacks."
Ukraine and Russia will hold their first direct negotiations since Russia's 2022 invasion.
Putin proposed negotiations in a Kremlin speech as Kiev and European countries urged Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire that began on Monday. After Putin's speech, Zelensky said he was willing to see Putin in Türkiye.
But the Kremlin said late Wednesday that Putin will not attend, instead, its delegation will be led by former Hawkesh culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, who attended the 2022 talks. The Kremlin has refused to say who will go to Istanbul.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who criticized Western support for Ukraine, urged Putin to participate in the negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he "believes both leaders will be there" and has put forward the idea that he could also attend the talks.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, NATO member Türkiye has tried to maintain good relations with two Black Sea neighbors and has hosted negotiations on the war twice. Representatives from Moscow and Kiev discussed the outline of the end of the war in Istanbul in March 2022.
But the conversation broke down after Russia's retreat from its suburbs, and hundreds of civilians were found dead after a month-long occupation by Russian troops.
Since then, contact in war has been restricted, focusing on humanitarian issues such as prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of soldiers’ remains.
Russia insists that negotiations resolved the "root causes" of the conflict, including "commonization" and demilitarization in Ukraine, two vague terms Moscow used to justify the invasion. It also repeated that Ukraine must take its territory into account by Russian troops.
Kiev said it would not recognize its territory as Russians - although Zelenskyy admitted that Ukraine might only restore it through diplomacy.
Even on the ceasefire, the two warring parties are working to reach a consensus.
Ukraine last month agreed to the U.S. proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, which Zelensky said was a prerequisite for negotiations. But Putin's troops had motivation in parts of the front line, and he rejected the proposal.
Zelenskyy said in Kiev that if Putin skips the meeting, the West should impose large-scale sanctions on the West. He also said he would decide on the next "step" of Kiev based on the people sent by Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that new sanctions were imposed on Russia if Turkey did not make substantial progress this week.
The EU on Wednesday approved a series of new sanctions against Russia that have complied with more than 20,000 restrictive measures and restricted its "shadow" oil fleet.
In March, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Russia's crucial oil industry as the country's economy was affected by high military spending in the war. U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham advocates 500% tariffs on imports from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and uranium.
Hello, welcome to continue to cover the Ukrainian War.
Ukraine and Russia will hold their first direct negotiations in more than three years in Istanbul, but President Vladimir Putin is not included in the attendee list.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has challenged Putin to meet him in Istanbul, but the Kremlin said he would not accept his proposal.
Putin proposed a fight back in Istanbul after Ukraine and European countries demanded a 30-day unconditional ceasefire last week. Zelenskyy agreed, but said this week that if Putin did not attend, it would show that he was not really interested in peace.
Meanwhile, NATO ministers including British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will meet in Türkiye on Thursday. Rami said Britain and its military allies will work to “strengthen” their collective security at the gatherings in Antalya.
Today, President Zelenskyy further demonstrates his commitment to peace in Türkiye, ready to attend talks directly with Russia and continue to push for a full ceasefire as a first step.
Here is a summary of other major events of the day:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will expire in Ankara, Türkiye's capitalon Thursday, he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Putin announced on Wednesday that he will send Vladimir Medinsky to lead the Russian delegation. The delegation also included Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin; Director of Intelligence Igor Kostyukov; Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin. It is worth noting that Putin's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
this U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to be in Istanbul on Friday Participated in the first direct peace negotiations since the first weeks of efforts of the full-scale Russian invasion. Rubio met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga in Antalya on Wednesday.
Germany's new Prime Minister Friedrich Merz,,,,, Ukraine is not allowed to have any reconciliation in Ukraine in the form of Moscow's "order peace". Meers warned in his speech in parliament that “military creates facts against Ukraine’s will” and told lawmakers that “it is crucial that the political West does not allow itself to split.”
The region's governor Oleh Hryhorov said a Russian missile attack killed three people on Wednesday at an industrial site near the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumi. Sumy sits opposite the Kursk Region, Russia - 35 people were killed in the Russian attack on the Sumy city of Palm on Sunday.