Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,175
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would travel to Turkiye this week for negotiations with Russia on the war in Ukraine and urged President Vladimir Putin to meet him for face-to-face talks.
Zelenskyy called on US counterpart Donald Trump to help secure a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Turkiye on Thursday, while accusing the Russian leader of not seriously wanting to end the war.
Zelenskyy also said he hopes to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass on Sunday, depending on developments in talks with Russia this week.
Trump said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would participate in talks on the Ukraine war in Turkiye, saying he expects “some pretty good results”. A State Department official said Rubio was expected on Friday in Istanbul.
Brazil’s president said he will press Vladimir Putin to attend negotiations with Zelenskyy in Turkiye.
French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that he was in favour of imposing new sanctions on Russia in the coming days if Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire, mentioning financial services and oil and gas as possible targets.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier said European allies would roll out “a significant tightening of sanctions” if there was no progress on ending the Ukraine war this week.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow was ready for serious talks on Ukraine but had doubts about Kyiv’s capacity for negotiations.
Source: Al Jazeera
Brazil’s Lula urges Russia’s Putin to ‘go to Istanbul and negotiate’
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to press his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to attend negotiations with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkiye, adding to calls on Moscow to enter talks and end its three-year war.
Lula is expected to stop in the Russian capital on the way back from attending a regional forum in China.
“I’ll try to talk to Putin,” Lula said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday before his departure.
“It costs me nothing to say, ‘hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit,”” he said.
The negotiations, expected to take place on Thursday in Turkiye’s commercial hub, Istanbul, would be the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Lula’s comments come after the Ukrainian foreign minister urged Brazil to use its influence with Russia to secure a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
Brazil and China issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for direct negotiations as the “only way to end the conflict”.
Zelenskyy earlier dared Putin to meet him in Turkiye, saying if he does not show up, it would show that Moscow is not interested in peace.
He also urged United States President Donald Trump, currently on a tour of Middle Eastern countries, to also visit Turkiye and participate in the talks.
Trump had announced that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would participate in the talks in Istanbul.
A State Department official said Rubio was expected to be in Istanbul on Friday.
The Kremlin has not yet specified whether Putin will attend in person, stating only that the “Russian delegation will be present”.
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.
Source: Al Jazeera