Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, May 15, 2025

Thursday’s Coverage: Putin Bails Out on Zelensky Meeting in Istanbul

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1746 GMT:

Pope Leo XIV has suggested holding peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the Vatican.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said after Friday’s Istanbul talks:

This is all tragic because we hoped that it would be a, maybe slow, process, but with a peaceful solution to the conflict, and instead we are back at the beginning. Now we will see what to do, but the situation is difficult.

The Pope plans to make the Vatican, the Holy See, available for a direct meeting between the two sides.

UPDATE 1734 GMT:

The former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, resigned last month because of Donald Trump’s “appeasement” of the Kremlin.

Brink wrote in an opinion piece for the Detroit Free Press:

I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded, and children killed with impunity.

I believe that the only way to secure US interests is to stand up for democracies and to stand against autocrats. Peace at any price is not peace at all – it is appeasement….

Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.

As such, I could no longer in good faith carry out the administration’s policy and felt it was my duty to step down. After nearly three decades serving our country, I resigned as our ambassador to Ukraine.

UPDATE 1711 GMT:

Ukraine Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Kyiv’s first priority in the talks was “people”, hailing the “important achievement” to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each: “[This] shows that we are focused to finalise this war.”

Ukraine’s second objective was to discuss a ceasefire. Both sides “exchanged some modalities” and teams are now working on “exchanging the details”.

“I think the next step would be that a leaders’ level meeting should be organized. That would be our next step, ” Umerov said. “Ukraine wants peace.”

The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said he was “generally satisfied”. Moscow has “taken note” of the Ukrainian request for Vladimir Putin to meet Volodymyr Zelensky.

UPDATE 1654 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European partners — Germany’s Friedrich Merz, France’s Emmanuel Macron, the UK’s Keir Starmer, and Poland’s Donald Tusk — have spoken by phone with Donald Trump.

Zelensky posted:

Ukraine is ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace, and it is important that the world holds a strong stance.

Our position — if the Russians reject a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings, tough sanctions must follow. Pressure on Russia must be maintained until Russia is ready to end the war.

The President added from the European Political Community conference in Albania:

Russia sent almost the same people it sent in 2022. They show that Russia has not changed its basic approach….They are doing everything they can to turn this Istanbul meeting into a staged, empty process.

Starmer emphasized, “We are now closely aligning our responses and will continue to do so.”

And Macron posted:

UPDATE 1342 GMT:

Talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by Turkey, lasted less than two hours with no sign of progress.

A Ukrainian official said Russian demands were “non-starters and non-constructive conditions” that were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed”.

The demands include the withdrawal of Kyiv’s troops from Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The Kremlin has demanded that Ukrainian forces leave parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east. This would enable Vladimir Putin to fulfil his September 2022 declaration that the four regions had been “annexed”.

The two sides did agree to a 1,000-for-1,000 exchange of prisoners of war.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hailed an “important day for world peace”, with Ukraine and Russia agreeing in principle to meet again.

UPDATE 1337 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says his “number one priority is a full, unconditional and honest ceasefire”:

This must happen immediately to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy.

And if the Russian representatives in Istanbul today cannot even agree to that, to a ceasefire…then it will be 100% clear that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy.

UPDATE 1329 GMT:

The new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has backed away from the possibility of sending long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Merz had indicated that he might lift the ban imposed by his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, having supporting the delivery of the missiles while in opposition.

But speaking on German TV on Thursday night, Merz said, “We are no longer arguing about this issue in the coalition….The Taurus has been jazzed up somewhat, as if it were near the nuclear threshold, and that’s wrong.”

He suggested that Ukraine was adequately supplied with Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles from Britain and France, even as military analysts say the Tauruses are necessity to maintain pressure on Russia.

UPDATE 1120 GMT:

At least three civilians were killed and 15 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 73 of 112 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 36 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

The fatalities were in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions.

UPDATE 1118 GMT:

Ukraine has repatriated the bodies of 909 soldiers killed during Russia’s invasion.

The troops were recovered from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions as well as from morgues in Russia.

UPDATE 1102 GMT:

Russian and Ukrainian delegations have met for the first time since March-April 2022, in the weeks after the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan opened the meeting by expressing his happiness over ua new window of opportunity for peace.

There are two paths today: One leads to peace, and the other will cause more destruction and loss of life. Both sides will choose which path to take.

Hosting both sides shows our strong will to end the war. We have an opportunity to end the war…in order to take the path of peace we need to take advantage of this opportunity.

He said it was critical for a ceasefire to be agreed as soon as possible, with the foundation for a meeting of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.

Russia had held up the talks with Ukraine and Turkey in Istanbul by demanding last-minute changes.

The Kremlin’s team insisted that Turks and Americans were excluded, leaving the Russians alone with the Ukrainian delegation.

A Ukrainian source said:

Yet another sign of the Russian side undermining the peace effort. We came to have a serious conversation, while Russians are putting forward demands, conditions. This makes us doubt whether Putin sent them to solve issues or just stall the process.

There is only one reason for the Russians to be afraid of having the US in the room – they came to stall the process, not solve issues, and they want to hide this from the US.

UPDATE 1049 GMT:

The Ukrainian, Turkish, and US delegations have met in Istanbul.

Contrary to earlier reports, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the session, alongside the envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and the US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack.

The Ukrainian team included Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and head of intelligence İbrahim Kalın led the Turkish group.

A source from the Ukrainian delegation said:

We understand that for any diplomacy to be resultative, there needs to be a ceasefire. Real, durable and well monitored,” Reuters reports the source said.

There also needs to be humanitarian confidence-building measures, such as the return of Ukrainian children, detained civilians, exchange of prisoners of war on the all-for-all basis.

UPDATE 0636 GMT:

Ukraine has lost a US-made F-16 fighter jet during a combat mission.

Ukraine’s Air Force Command said contact with the F-16 was lost around 3 a.m. The pilot had shot down three aerial targets and was engaging a fourth when an emergency occurred on board. He steered the warplane away from a populated area before ejecting safely and being evacuated by a search-and-rescue team.

UPDATE 0628 GMT:

Friday’s talks in Istanbul will begin at 10:30 local time (0730 GMT) with a Ukraine-Turkey-US session.

Having criticized Russia for sending a “lower-level” delegation and called for a Trump-Putin meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not be present.

The Ukraine delegation will then meet the Russians with Turkish officials present.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Moscow’s representatives on Thursday evening.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European partners, and the Trump Administration have called out Russia for sending a “lower-level” delegation to direct talks in Istanbul.

Vladimir Putin bailed out on Zelensky’s challenge to a face-to-face discussion. He did not send Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Instead, the Russians are led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline Putin aide who led Moscow’s teams talks with Ukraine in Turkey in March-April 2022.

Zelensky said at a press conference in Ankara after meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “Unfortunately, [the Russians] are not serious enough about the negotiations….Out of respect for Presidents Trump and Erdoğan, I have decided to send our delegation to Istanbul now.”

The Ukrainian group is led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Russian officials spent Thursday trying to justify Putin’s avoidance of Zelensky. They declared that “appointed negotiators do all the groundwork and prepare the documents”, and only then does Putin enter meetings. Thye admitted, “Our leader doesn’t like being pressured.”

And they dropped all pretense of diplomacy: “Zelensky is only suitable for signing a capitulation. Period.”

Europe: “A New Sanctions Package is Ready”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said:

The fact that President Zelensky travelled to Istanbul despite this is an enormous gesture.

Putin didn’t show up – and that put him in the wrong. A new sanctions package is ready. We will adopt it in Brussels on Tuesday.

Merz said Russian assets could be confiscated, and the issue is “currently being clarified”: “If there is a way to mobilise the money on a sound legal basis, we will do it. However, we must also be aware of the risks that such a step entails for the European financial market.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot added:

In front of Ukrainians, there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin. He is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio chided the Russians: “I want to be frank, I don’t think we have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.”

Yet he also played into the Kremlin’s tactic of dangling a face-to-face discussion before Donald Trump. “I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin.”

Trump, on an ego-massaging tour of the Gulf States, told reporters, “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.”

He excused Putin’s bailout: “Why would he go if I’m not going?”