Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend Thursday's peace talks in Istanbul, the Kremlin confirmed, while U.S. President Donald Trump also announced that he would not attend the meeting.
The Russian president is sending his adviser, Vladimir Medinsky, to Türkiye as head of a delegation, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
An unnamed U.S. official said on Wednesday that Trump also would not attend the talks.
The official spoke after the Kremlin's announcement.
There had been much speculation about Putin's attendance in the run-up to the much-anticipated talks in the Turkish metropolis. His foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov had suggested on Wednesday that Putin was unlikely to attend the talks in Istanbul.
The Kremlin late Wednesday named four negotiators – including a hawkish former culture minister – and four experts for the talks, set to take place on Thursday in Istanbul.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had already confirmed his intention to travel to Türkiye personally to meet Putin, arguing that he would not negotiate with any other figure as the Russian president is the decision-maker in the conflict with Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump, currently on a trip to the Gulf, previously suggested he might also attend the talks if Putin were to do so. "I know he would like me to be there. And that’s a possibility... I’ve been thinking about that."
Trump added: "Now tomorrow, we’re all booked out, you understand that. We’re going to UAE tomorrow. So we have a very full situation. Now that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back."
He said that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio would definitely be in Türkiye.
The White House says Rubio will be joined in Türkiye by special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg.
