Putin omita Ukraine speaks in Türkiye while Russia avoids Trump’s pressure, throw insults to Zelenskyy in her place

Istanbul – Russia and Ukraine exchanged insults on Thursday when negotiators should tentatively, to meet in Türkiye for the first direct peace conversations in more than three years. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, criticized Russia for sending a “decorative” delegation when he landed in Ankara for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russian officials, meanwhile, called Zelenskyy “pathetic” and a “clown” for Challenging President Vladimir Putin to appear In person for conversations, while promoting more territorial profits in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin made clear on Thursday that the impulse of President Trump for a high fire in the three -year war – A war that repeatedly He affirmed that he could end in a matter of hours – I was not changing the rooted position of Moscow in the confrontation.

The exchange of personal spikes between Moscow and Kyiv undermined the possibilities of an advance in conversations in Türkiye. It was not even clear if conversations would be made between the festivities at war.

Putin did not come to Türkiye, despite the days of international pressure. Instead, the Russia negotiation team, which landed in Istanbul on Thursday morning, was directed by a hard -line historian and Kremlin assistant who has denied the right of Ukraine to exist.

“We need to understand the level of the Russian delegation and what is their mandate, if they are able to make a decision,” Zelenskyy said from the asphalt at Ankara airport. “From what we see, it looks more like a decorative deployment of Moscow, he added.

President Trump said he had open the possibility of traveling to Türkiye on Friday, if there was any significant progress in the conversations. But the absence of Putin, as well as any superior diplomat, such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, or the Yuri Ushakov foreign policy assistant, seemed to reduce the importance of conversations, or any possibility of an advance.

Russia said the negotiations would take place in the “second half of the day”, but Zelenskyy said he would decide on the focus of his delegation only after meeting with Erdogan.

Russia throws Zelenskyy insults for calling Putin to negotiate

The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, replied Zelenskyy’s criticisms to the Moscow delegation almost immediately. Speaking in an informative session in Moscow, she called him a “doll”, a “clown” and a “loser”.

Lavrov called Zelenskyy “pathetic” for trying to persuade Putin to appear in person.

“At first, Zelenskyy made some types of statements that demanded that Putin be personally. Well, a pathetic person,” he said in a speech televised to diplomats in Moscow.

Trump, who has been pressing for a rapid end of the three -year war, said he could go to Türkiye if he saw significant progress.

“You know, if something happened, I would go on Friday,” he said during a visit to Qatar on Thursday.

Speaking at an NATO meeting in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya, the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, said that Washington was “impatient” and was willing to consider “any mechanism” to achieve a lasting end for war.

Rubio is expected in Istanbul on Friday “so that meetings with European counterparts discuss the conflict in Ukraine,” according to the United States Department of State.

Putin himself He made the call for direct negotiations After the leaders of Kyiv and Europe He pressed him to accept a full and unconditional fire of 30 days – A call that also rejected.

Not closer to a peace agreement of Ukraine-Russia?

Despite the gust of diplomacy, the positions of Moscow and kyiv remain very separate. The appointment of the Kremlin of Vladimir Medinsky, a hard line assistant for Putin, although it is not an important decision maker, since its main negotiator suggested that Moscow does not plan to make concessions.

Medinsky directed failed negotiations in 2022, in which Moscow made radical claims over the Ukrainian territory and demanded restrictions on kyiv’s military. It is known for writing ultra -nationalist school textbooks that question the right of Ukraine to exist and justify the ongoing invasion.

Even when he landed in Turkey, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a position on social networks that the troops had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, Torskoye and Novooleksandrivka in the Donetsk region.

Russia also sent a Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, a Deputy Minister of Defense and the head of his Gruquía Military Intelligence Agency.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv had sent a high -level delegation.

“Our delegation is at the highest level: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the president’s office, the military, our intelligence agencies … to make decisions that can lead to peace,” he said in Ankara.

Russia insists that conversations address what calls the “root causes” of the conflict, including one “denazification“And the demilitarization of Ukraine. These vague terms that Moscow has used to justify its invasion are widely rejected by kyiv and the West.

The authorities in Moscow have also repeated that Ukraine must give territory occupied by Russian troops and withdraw from some areas still under Ukrainian control.

Kyiv wants a high immediate fire of 30 days and says he will not recognize his territories as Russian. But Zelenskyy has acknowledged that Ukraine could only recover them by diplomatic means.

In:
• War
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• Cease-fire
• Donald Trump
• Russia
• Vladimir Putin
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy