Russia on Wednesday released a list of officials who will attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey. But a key person was missing: President Vladimir V. Putin.
The absence on the list of the Russian leader, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that began the war, was a strong indication that Mr. Putin would not come with face to face with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has called him a murderer. The Kremlin said Mr. Putin himself had signed off on the delegation.
President Trump, who had begun pushing for peace talks before he took back the White House, had said he would consider joining the meeting in Turkey.
“I was thinking about actually flying over there,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a White House news conference on Monday.
But on Wednesday, Mr. Trump, who is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, indicated that he, too, would skip the talks and would instead visit the United Arab Emirates as planned. But he said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would attend.
“Tomorrow, we’re all booked out, you understand that,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to U.A.E. tomorrow. So we have a very full situation. Now that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back. But, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it.”
Of Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump added: “I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out. Marco’s going and Marco’s been very effective.” Along with Mr. Rubio, Mr. Trump’s special envoys Steven Witkoff and Keith Kellogg were expected to travel to Turkey.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky said he was “waiting to see who will come from Russia” before deciding what steps Ukraine should take regarding the peace talks. He also urged the “strongest” Western sanctions against Russia if Mr. Putin rejected the meeting.
The Kremlin said that the Russian delegation would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hard-line aide to Mr. Putin. It would also include Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, who was part of the Russian delegation in talks held between Moscow and Kyiv in the weeks after the 2022 invasion; and other senior military and intelligence officials.
The stakes could not be higher for both sides in the largest land war in Europe since World War II.
After more than 15 months of war, Russian still holds the initiative, conducting dozens of assaults across the front in Ukraine’s east every day. But its soldiers and brigades have been depleted, and Moscow is struggling to replace destroyed equipment, analysts say.
Ukrainian forces, which made an audacious invasion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024, have since pulled out almost entirely from there. They have also been steadily losing ground in their country’s east. As Mr. Trump has pushed for peace talks, Kyiv has stressed that it needs security guarantees from the United States. Ukraine even signed a deal last month that gives America a share of future revenues from its reserves of rare earth minerals. But the final deal did not include explicit guarantees of future U.S. security assistance.
As the pressure for peace has grown, the White House said in March that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to cease fighting in the Black Sea and to work on details for halting strikes on energy facilities. Later that month, after meetings were held in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine said it would support a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day cease-fire. That gave new momentum to truce negotiations, which had faltered after a public confrontation at the White House between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump.
Then, in April, Mr. Putin declared an “Easter truce,” ordering his forces to “stop all military activity” against Ukraine for the holiday. It was apparently aimed at showing an impatient Trump administration that Moscow was still open to peace talks. Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine would abide by a truce so long as Russia did, but Kyiv said Moscow broke its own Easter truce.
After Mr. Trump expressed frustration with Russia’s refusal to stop the war, Mr. Putin ordered a three-day cease-fire to begin on May 8, in order to mark the May 9 celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Mr. Zelensky described that pledge as a “manipulation.”
Britain and France, which had promised to muster a “coalition of the willing” to secure a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, led a coalition of European allies that gave Russia a deadline this month to agree to a 30-day cease-fire or face new sanctions.
In his social media post on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president said he was “ready for any format of negotiations” with Russia in Turkey.
“Russia is only prolonging the war and the killings,” Mr. Zelensky added. “I want to thank every country, every leader who is now putting pressure on Russia, so that the shelling finally stops.”
Cicely Wedgeworth contributed reporting.
Yonette Joseph is a senior editor based in Mexico City.
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