Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer is in Ankara for the Guardian
In his first comments after landing in Ankara, Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian delegation that had arrived in Istanbul as largely a “theatre prop.”
“We’re in contact with the American side, I believe they’ll also be present in Turkey at a high level,” he said. “As for the Russians, we’ll see. Nothing has been confirmed officially, but from what we’ve observed, it looks more like a theatre prop than a serious one.”
“What we do know for certain,” he added, “is who actually makes decisions on the Russian side. And we will act accordingly.”
The Kremlin has said its delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline aide to Vladimir Putin who headed the only previous round of direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in 2022.
Notably, Russia is not sending its two top diplomats – Yuri Ushakov and Sergei Lavrov – both of whom have taken part in earlier high-level negotiations with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
Moscow’s decision to once again appoint Medinsky suggests the Kremlin is attempting to revive talks based on the same framework as in 2022 – a round widely seen as fruitless due to Russia’s maximalist demands, including restrictions on Ukraine’s military and sovereignty.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Ankara ahead of meeting with Turkey’s Erdoğan – video
“This is all just a performance – a simulation of peace talks,” Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who resigned over the war told the Guardian.
Bondarev said Putin proposed the talks in Turkey with the aim of convincing Trump that he was committed to peace, while continuing the fighting on the ground.
Updated at 07.07 EDT
Key events
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Russia and Ukraine must “compromise” on the path toward peace, and Turkey hopes intensive discussions between the sides will achieve results, Reuters quotes the Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan as saying.
Speaking on the sidelines of an informal Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in Antalya, Fidan repeats that his country supports the peace efforts. He speaks as Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to begin talks in Istanbul.
Here’s a little more information from Reuters on the Estonian claims a Russian jet entered Nato airspace.
The former nation’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna says the aircraft was flying over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a “shadow fleet” defying Western sanctions on Moscow.
Russia, which regards sanctions as a malign attempt to crush its economy, says all its ships have free passage in the Baltic – and any attempt to stop them is dangerous.
Estonia’s navy says the unflagged Jaguar ship, which went onto a UK sanctions list last week, refused to cooperate when asked to stop and was then escorted to Russian waters. Tsahkna tells reporters:
The Russian Federation sent a fighter jet to check the situation, and this fighter jet violated Nato territory for close to one minute. [The] Russian Federation is ready to protect the ‘shadow fleet’… The situation is really serious.
Western nations say Moscow is using a “shadow fleet” of more than 100 ships to dodge sanctions Putin views as a part of a campaign to quash its global influence. Moscow sends millions of barrels of oil and fuel every day to buyers in China and India, and has warned against any attempt to violate its vessels’ freedom of movement.
The tanker was sailing in international waters between Estonia and Finland, and refused Estonian navy requests to change course, a spokesperson for the Baltic country’s defence forces tells Reuters.
A Russian SU-35 fighter jet approached the tanker and circled it, flying in international airspace except when it violated Estonian airspace briefly as it first approached the scene, the spokesperson adds.
Wrapping up his visit to Qatar, the US president Donald Trump stops by a US installation at the centre of American involvement in the Middle East to tell troops his “priority is to end conflicts, not start them”. According to the AP, he adds:
But I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners.
Trump has used his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region. The installation, al-Udeid Air Base, was a major staging ground during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It houses some 8,000 troops – down from about 10,000 at the height of those wars.
Tass is carrying a quote from Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who was accusing western European countries of not really seeking peace in Ukraine.
On the day that Russia has sent a low-level delegation to Istanbul to potentially conduct direct talks with a Ukrainian delegation, Lavrov is quoted as saying:
There is a lot of evidence that neither Berlin, nor Paris, nor Brussels, nor especially London really want any peace at all in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have described the delegation sent by Russia to Turkey as “of rather low rank and with an unclear mandate,” while Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed it as a “theatre prop”.
Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer is in Ankara for the Guardian
One notable member of Russia’s delegation in Turkey is Igor Kostyukov, head of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, which has been behind some of Moscow’s most notorious covert operations in recent years.
Kostyukov has been sanctioned by the US for his alleged role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election, and by the UK for the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, which killed Dawn Sturgess.
Most recently, the GRU has been accused of orchestrating a series of sabotage operations across Europe, including arson attacks, cyber intrusions, data theft, and attempts to target undersea cables.
ShareUkraine says Russian delegation for talks in Turkey is ‘of rather low rank and with an unclear mandate’
Ruth Michaelson is in Istanbul for the Guardian
As Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Ankara, there is speculation in Istanbul about where the Russian delegation might be, and when they are expected to show up at the Dolmabahçe palace for talks.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said the talks have been moved to the afternoon at the request of the Turkish authorities.
A statement from Zelensky’s office said his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will “define Ukraine’s next diplomatic steps to bring a full and unconditional ceasefire, achieve a durable peace, and ensure security.”
The Ukrainian president “is accompanied by a high-level Ukrainian delegation capable of preparing the necessary decisions,” they added. “We note that Russia has also sent a delegation to Turkey – unfortunately, of rather low rank and with an unclear mandate. Further updates on Ukraine’s steps will follow.”
Zakharova previously said that the delegation dispatched from Moscow is “ready for serious work,” despite the message that comes from sending a group composed of several deputy ministers and a presidential aide to Vladimir Putin rather than the leader himself.
Ruth Michaelson
Ruth Michaelson is at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul for the Guardian. Here is some background on the building.
The Dolmabahçe palace is a grand sweeping waterfront palace on shores the European side of the Bosphorus, ringed by a series of outer buildings including one where the peace talks are expected to take place today. The Turkish authorities frequently use the outer buildings of Dolmabahçe for government business, including previous rounds of Ukrainian-Russian talks or press conferences with cabinet officials, held in a wooden-vaulted stone meeting room with opulent modern murals.
The palace has a history as a site of government business, inhabited by six Ottoman sultans and the last caliph Abdülmecid II after construction was completed in 1856. After Turkey became a republic, its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stayed periodically at Dolmabahçe, including residing at the palace during a period of illness until his death in 1938.
The almost 15,000-square-metre palace is the largest in Turkey, with 285 rooms and 44 halls including a grand ceremonial hall intended for the Ottoman sultans to receive other heads of state, 68 toilets and 6 Turkish baths. The cost of construction of the Dolmabahçe palace was also linked to the debts that later led to the Ottoman empire being branded “the sick man of Europe,” billed at 35 tonnes of gold worth, almost $2bn today.
In this handout photo from March 2022, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is seen addressing Ukrainian and Russian delegations in a room at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul ahead of their failed peace talks, just weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Turkish President Press Office Handout/EPAShare
No time has been set for talks between officials from Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, where there is currently a technical-level Russian delegation and some US officials, a Turkish foreign ministry source has told Reuters
“No time has been set for a meeting yet. In this respect, there is no question of a postponement,” the source said.
ShareZelenskyy: Russian delegation that arrived in Istanbul is largely a ‘theatre prop’
Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer is in Ankara for the Guardian
In his first comments after landing in Ankara, Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian delegation that had arrived in Istanbul as largely a “theatre prop.”
“We’re in contact with the American side, I believe they’ll also be present in Turkey at a high level,” he said. “As for the Russians, we’ll see. Nothing has been confirmed officially, but from what we’ve observed, it looks more like a theatre prop than a serious one.”
“What we do know for certain,” he added, “is who actually makes decisions on the Russian side. And we will act accordingly.”
The Kremlin has said its delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline aide to Vladimir Putin who headed the only previous round of direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in 2022.
Notably, Russia is not sending its two top diplomats – Yuri Ushakov and Sergei Lavrov – both of whom have taken part in earlier high-level negotiations with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
Moscow’s decision to once again appoint Medinsky suggests the Kremlin is attempting to revive talks based on the same framework as in 2022 – a round widely seen as fruitless due to Russia’s maximalist demands, including restrictions on Ukraine’s military and sovereignty.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Ankara ahead of meeting with Turkey’s Erdoğan – video
“This is all just a performance – a simulation of peace talks,” Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who resigned over the war told the Guardian.
Bondarev said Putin proposed the talks in Turkey with the aim of convincing Trump that he was committed to peace, while continuing the fighting on the ground.
Updated at 07.07 EDT
As we await a decision over whether there will be any direct talks taking place in Istanbul later today, Russia’s military has announced that it has seized two further settlements in eastern Ukraine.
Reuters reports that Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plane has landed at Esenboğa airport in Ankara, and is expected to speak with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan within the hour.
Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer is a foreign correspondent for the Guardian
I’m at Ankara airport, where a small group of reporters has gathered to await the arrival of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s jet. The Ukrainian president is expected to meet with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the capital later today, after traveling from Poland with a top-level delegation.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, a Russian delegation led by ultra-conservative Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky landed early on Thursday. But the day’s events have been marred by confusion and uncertainty, with no clear indication of when – or even if – the first round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place.
For now, Ukraine’s delegation – which includes defence minister Rustem Umerov and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak – is expected to remain in Ankara.
According to one source familiar with the plans, Zelenskyy may dispatch his top aides to Istanbul only after concluding his meeting with Erdoğan – suggesting that any negotiations with the Russian side would likely begin later in the afternoon, if they happen at all. Zelenskyy himself has indicated he will not travel to Istanbul unless Vladimir Putin also agrees to attend.
Reuters has a quick snap that according to the Russian foreign ministry, talks will begin this afternoon in Istanbul. It is just approaching noon there now.
ShareUnclear what format or when Russia-Ukraine talks may take place in Istanbul today
Ruth Michaelson
Ruth Michaelson is in Istanbul for the Guardian
Outside the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul, there is a large crowd of expectant media and no sign of any negotiating teams so far.
Cameras from Turkish, Russian, and Polish news channels have their lenses trained on the grand wooden door and Turkish presidential seal that mark the entrance to the palace courtyard, which runs alongside the grand Ottoman-era building where talks are expected to be held sometime today.
The Dolmabahçe palace has been the site of previous negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv that secured a deal to allow the export of Ukrainian grain in 2022. Failed peace talks also took place between the Russian and Ukrainian sides in the southern Turkish city of Antalya and in Istanbul that year.
Military personnel stand guard outside the Turkish presidency’s Dolmabahçe working office, in Istanbul yesterday. Photograph: Leonhard Föger/Reuters
But with Russian leader Vladimir Putin no longer expected in Turkey for this round of negotiations about a potential ceasefire in Ukraine, it’s unclear what the potential outcome of today’s talks might be, or even what talks in Istanbul could look like.
Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine, prompting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to state he would be waiting for Putin here in Istanbul, eager to show Washington he is serious about peace. Instead, Zelenskyy will meet with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, amid reports he will make a decision about sending a delegation to Istanbul following the meeting.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow last night that Putin held a meeting to prepare their delegation for the talks, along with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, defence minister Andrey Belousov, chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov, security council secretary Sergei Shoigu and head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov.
However it is several of their deputies who have reportedly arrived here in Istanbul and are expected to show up at the Dolmabahçe palace today. A list of delegates posted on the Kremlin website said the Russian delegation will be spearheaded by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, alongside deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin and intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.
Tass, citing Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, is reporting that Russia’s talks delegation has arrived in Istanbul.
UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, who is in Turkey for informal talks with Nato foreign ministers, has spoken about the proposed direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, which may take place in Istanbul today. PA Media quotes Lammy saying:
We come with one single message to stand by Ukraine and to ensure that we get a just and lasting, enduring peace.
And the readiness for that peace is demonstrated by president Zelenskyy being here in Turkey as well.
And of course, we watched closely as we head to these talks, noting the Russian low-level individuals who are coming to represent the Russian side.
US president Donald Trump has said today that he would go to Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey on Friday “if it is appropriate”, Reuters reports.