U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he didn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would go to talks in Turkey with Ukraine if he wasn’t there.

Vladimir Putin has greatly reduced his public appearances and has not been seen since the end of March, with the Russian despot now unlikely to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey this week

No, President Donald Trump is not going to Turkey to personally mediate Ukraine-Russia peace talks. For days, Trump repeatedly stirred speculation that he might upend his Middle East travel schedule – one his team meticulously crafted for weeks — to join the Russians and Ukrainians at the negotiating table.

Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, both countries said Thursday, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.

June 15, 2024: Representatives of 92 nations meet in Nidwalden, Switzerland, to discuss Ukraine’s peace plan. Despite the growing number of delegates, a consensus remains elusive. The summit’s final statement is backed by most – although not all – participants.

If Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul for negotiations on the war in Ukraine, nothing will come of it. It will be yet another attempt by the Kremlin to influence the peace talks, Ukrainian political analyst Taras Zahorodniy says in an interview on the YouTube channel of RBC-Ukraine.