Updated May 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM CDT
KYIV and MOSCOW — Hopes for substantive talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine faded on Thursday, after days of intense speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin and perhaps even President Trump would attend.
Only one leader — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — showed up in Turkey. He last met Putin face-to-face in 2019. Now he has accused the Russian leader of being afraid to meet again as Russia continues to attack Ukraine.
In a decision only made public on the eve of the talks, Putin named a group of mid-level technocrats to lead the Russian delegation. The Kremlin's spokesman later confirmed that Putin would not be joining them.
Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Zelenskyy criticized Putin for sending "stand-in props" in his place.
"We need to understand the level of the Russian delegation, what their mandate is, and whether they are capable of making any decisions on their own," Zelenskyy said. "Because we all know who makes the decisions in Russia."
Yet the head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, insisted his team had come to Turkey informed of the Kremlin's positions and with full authority to negotiate.
"The goal of direct talks with the Ukrainian side is to sooner or later establish a long-term peace that takes into account the roots of the conflict," Medinsky said to a scrum of reporters outside the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.
There was one catch: Zelenskyy and most of the Ukrainian delegation were still in Ankara, nearly 300 miles away.
Zelenskyy later confirmed he would send a team led by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to Istanbul to meet with the Russian technocrats there. It's unclear when discussions will start. Zelenskyy himself said he's heading to Albania for a meeting with European leaders.
Putin called for direct talks. Zelenskyy challenges him to meet in person
Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine in a surprise announcement to foreign journalists at the Kremlin Sunday — an apparent counteroffer to an ultimatum by Ukraine and its Western allies to agree to an immediate 30-day ceasefire by May 12 or face further sanctions.
Putin did not address the ceasefire proposal, but suggested the two sides instead gather in Istanbul, which hosted failed negotiations between Russia and Ukraine back in 2022.
It was unclear whether Putin himself ever intended to take part.
Zelenskyy committed to attend the negotiations — and challenged Putin to do the same.
President Trump, currently traveling in the Middle East, also said he was open to making an appearance — inflating hopes the Kremlin leader might accept.
Yet, speaking from Doha, Qatar, on Thursday, Trump reversed course. Trump said he'd never given a commitment to attend and didn't think Putin would go "if I don't go."
"And that turned out to be right," added Trump. "But we have people there."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Antalya, Turkey, for a NATO summit, and could join the talks. Speaking to reporters there, Rubio played down the chance of progress from Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Turkey. "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," he said, "face-to-face."
Trump left the door open to engaging with the talks at a later date "if it was appropriate" — adding that "nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together" in terms of securing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenskyy told reporters in Ankara that he hopes the meeting between the two delegations leads to a ceasefire, which he has said must be secured before peace talks can begin. He added that if the Kremlin continues to balk at the terms of ceasefire proposals, then Ukraine's western allies should follow through on threats to impose new sanctions on Russia.
"That will be an incentive to end the war sooner or at least speed up our conversations about it," he said.
NPR's Hanna Palamarenko contributed to this story from Kyiv.
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