Today and delegations of Russia And Ukraine They meet in Istanbul with the aim of resuming the peace talks, the first from the distant 2022. The meetings will take place at the Palazzo di Dolmabahçe, on the European bank of the Bosphorus. The beginning of the negotiations is set for 11:30 Italian time (12:30 local), preceded at 9:45 am by a trilateral meeting between officials of Türkiye, States United And Ukraine. To coordinate the organization is the Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan.
The absence of Putin, Zelensky and Trump
No leaders will be present at the Istanbul summit. Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky and the American president Donald Trump they will not participate. Trump, currently engaged in the Middle East, said that there will be no significant progress until he meets Putin directly. “Nothing will happen until Putin and I will meet,” he said on board the Air Force One. Meanwhile, the absence of the main protagonists leaves little hope for decisive results from today’s talks.
The delegations, led respectively by Rustem UMEROV for Ukraine and from Vladimir Medinsky For Russia, crucial issues such as the territorial integrity of Kiev and security guarantees will discuss. The Secretary of State American Marco Rubiopresent in Istanbul, however, expressed skepticism on the possible progress of the agreements without a direct confrontation among national leaders. “I don’t expect great progress before the Putin-Trump meeting,” said Rubio.
Turkey, represented by the Foreign Minister Hakan Fidanplays a central role in mediation. The meetings will be held according to different formats: bilateral, trilateral and, potentially, a quadrilateral format that would include United States, Türkiye, Ukrainian and Russia. However, the realization of this last configuration is not yet certain. The United States, represented by Marco Rubio, intend to keep the pressure on Moscow high.
International criticisms and tensions
The British Prime Minister Keir Stormer He intervened on the matter, defining Putin’s refusal to participate in the talks intolerable and underlining that the Russian president “will have to pay the price” for his tactic to prevaricate. Meanwhile, from Germany, the chancellor Friedrich Merz He has announced that the European Union will adopt a new package of penalties against Moscow next Tuesday, in Brussels. These decisions aim to respond to Moscow’s lack of effective commitment.
Despite the intentions of peace, the climate between the parties remains tense. On the inaugural day of the interviews, yesterday, exchanges of accusations between the delegations emerged. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attacked Zelensky By calling it “manipulated” and “painful”, while Ukraine points the finger at Moscow against the poor will to respect the territorial integrity of the country. Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, interviewed, reiterates the need for a ceased to be immediate and of concrete guarantees for Kiev.
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