Ukraine holds meeting with US, Turkey ahead of peace talks with Russia

Ukrainian, U.S., and Turkish delegates met in Istanbul on May 16 for a trilateral meeting, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said ahead of the expected peace talks with Russia.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were seen walking together as the meeting took off.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg were also present.

Suspilne broadcaster and Russian state news agency TASS reported that the discussion lasted about an hour and ended around 12 p.m. Little detail was provided about the content of the discussions.

Later in the day, the Ukrainian delegation is set to meet Russian officials for the first direct negotiations since 2022, with Turkish representatives also to be present. Separate meetings between the Russian and U.S. officials are expected, though Rubio said he would not meet with Moscow's delegates himself.

After Moscow proposed to hold peace talks in Turkey this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed and invited Russian President Vladimir Putin for a face-to-face meeting. The Russian leader declined to attend and appointed his aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to lead the talks.

The Ukrainian delegation that arrived in Turkey on May 15 consisted of top Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, representatives of the Presidential Office, the military, and intelligence agencies.

However, after a three-hour meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelensky announced that a smaller delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov would travel to Istanbul to discuss a potential ceasefire deal.

Kyiv and its allies have urged Moscow to adopt an unconditional ceasefire starting May 12 as the first step toward peace talks — a proposal Russia has ignored.

While Ukrainian officials said they hope to discuss a possible truce in Istanbul, Russia presented the meeting as the continuation of the 2022 talks and stressed the need to address what it sees as the "root causes" of the war.

Moscow has presented Ukraine's NATO aspirations, as well as its language and minority laws, as the reasons behind its full-scale invasion of the country.

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The Kyiv IndependentAlex Cadier