Ukraine president says Putin scared of face-to-face talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he would attend talks with Russia on the war in Ukraine this week only if Vladimir Putin is also there, and goaded him by saying the Russian leader was scared to meet him face-to-face.

The Kremlin has yet to say whether Putin will take part in the talks scheduled to be held in Istanbul on Thursday, more than three years into the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

The planned talks have become the main focus of peace efforts led by US President Donald Trump, who said he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio and has also offered to attend.

Trump is also sending senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, three sources familiar with the plans said.

Zelensky said he wanted to negotiate an unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a step toward ending the war, and that Putin should take part in talks because “absolutely everything in Russia” depends on him.

“We want to agree on a beginning to the end of the war,” Zelensky told a press conference. But he added: “He (Putin) is scared of direct talks with me.”

Zelensky said he expected the United States and European Union to impose “strong sanctions” if the talks did not take place.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have sought to show they are working towards peace after Trump prioritised ending the war, which has raged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but have yet to agree any clear path. Russian bombs killed at least three people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Tuesday, a local official said.

Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine, after ignoring a Ukrainian offer for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Trump publicly told Zelensky to accept the proposal.

The Ukrainian leader then said he would be waiting for Putin in Istanbul on Thursday, though the Kremlin chief had never made clear he intended to travel himself.

Asked who would represent Russia at the talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “As soon as the president sees fit, we will announce it.”

During a speech in Saudi Arabia, Trump said Rubio would attend the talks on Thursday, as well as others. “We’ll see if we can get it done,” he said.

Kellogg, in an earlier interview on Fox Business Network, said Trump would join the talks in Istanbul if Putin showed up.

“We’re hoping President Putin shows up as well, and then President Trump will be there. This could be an absolutely incredible meeting,” he said. “We can get peace, I really believe, pretty fast if all three leaders sit down and talk.”

Newly elected Pope Leo promised Zelensky on Monday he would do his best to help bring about a just and lasting peace, a Zelensky aide said.

Reuters reported last year that Putin was open to discussing a ceasefire with Trump but that Moscow ruled out making any major territorial concessions and demanded that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join Nato.

Ukraine has said it is ready for talks but a ceasefire is needed first, a position supported by its European allies.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow was ready for serious talks on Ukraine but doubted Kyiv’s capacity for negotiations.

The agencies quoted him as saying realities “on the ground” should be recognised, including the incorporation of what Moscow calls “new territories” into Russia - a reference to territory in Ukraine that is occupied by Russian forces.

US officials want Russia to agree to a comprehensive 30-day land, air, sea and critical infrastructure ceasefire, a senior US official said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Russia was ready for serious talks on Ukraine but that Moscow doubted that Kyiv was ready for negotiation, Russian state news agencies reported.

“It is premature to make predictions,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying. “The question should be addressed to the sponsors of the Kyiv regime and Kyiv itself: are they ready to negotiate?”

“We have a firm impression that with the current approach, the word that can characterise the line of these figures is non-agreement,” state news agency TASS quoted Ryabkov as saying.

Reuters