Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talks to journalists as he arrives at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
ANKARA, Turkey – Russian President Vladimir Putin stayed away Thursday from proposed direct peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine, leaving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky waiting in the Turkish capital of Ankara after he had challenged the Kremlin leader to face-to-face negotiations.
With Putin absent, the Russian delegation was in Istanbul — more than 400 kilometers (almost 300 miles) west of Ankara — and it wasn’t clear whether the sides would even meet for their first such talks since March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor the previous month.
Zelensky said the Russian delegation appeared to be merely “a theater prop” following a weekend of diplomatic brinksmanship between Moscow to Kyiv in the 3-year-old war.
Putin’s absence punctured hopes of a breakthrough in peace efforts that were given a push in recent months by the Trump administration and Western European leaders amid the intense maneuvering. It also raised the prospect of intensified international sanctions on Russia that have been threatened by the West.
Speaking at the airport in Ankara, Zelensky said the next steps for talks would be decided after his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who welcomed him with an honor guard at the presidential palace in Ankara.
“Now, after three years of immense suffering, there is finally a window of opportunity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a NATO meeting taking place separately in Turkey. “The talks … hopefully may open a new chapter.”
The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the U.N., and continues along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.
At least five civilians were killed and 29 injured in the past day, according to authorities in five eastern regions of Ukraine where Russia’s army is trying to advance.
