Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky decried a Potemkin delegation sent by Russia to peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday after it transpired President Vladimir Putin won’t be attending after all.
President Zelensky threw doubt on whether Ukraine would meet with the Russian delegation for peace talks at all on Thursday, after it became clear that his Russian counterpart, President Putin, had not come to Istanbul. Ukraine spokesmen had previously said Putin being personally present was a requirement because in the Russian system only Putin is capable of making decisions, as no real power is delegated, making high-level talks without him pointless.
Russian state media said on Thursday that a delegation from Moscow had arrived in Turkey but that President Putin had not travelled and would not be participating.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) speaks to media after disembarking from the plane upon his arrival at Ankara airport, in Ankara, on May 15, 2025. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to hold talks with Turkish President in Ankara, on May 15, 2025. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Arriving at Istanbul airport on Thursday morning, President Zelensky was received by an honour guard of Turkish soldiers and made a brief address before travelling to meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Pushing talks back to this afternoon, Zelensky said that: “We need to understand what the level of the Russian delegation is, what their mandate is, and whether they are capable of making decisions on their own… Because we all know who makes decisions in Russia”.
Addressing President Putin, Zelensky said in English: “I’m here. I think this is a very clear message”.
On the alleged Potemkin Village facadism of the Russian delegation, Zelensky’s remarks were translated into English as saying they were a “sham” or like a “dummy” or “theatrical prop”. It is not clear at this point if the talks will even go ahead, but should they do so, they are to be the first direct contact between the Ukrainian and Russian governments since the March 2022 peace talks, which took place months after Russia invaded and were also hosted in Istanbul.
Russia reacted with venom to the claims their delegation was one that had not been sent in good faith, calling Zelensky a uneducated, “a pathetic man”, a “clown” and “loser” in return. They had earlier claimed: “the Russian side is ready to negotiate in earnest. The Russian delegation has arrived in Istanbul and is ready for serious work”.
.@SE_MiddleEast Steve Witkoff on Ukraine-Russia negotiations:
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 13, 2025
"It's a stupid war. It didn't need to happen."
"Our job is to put them in a room together and show them that the alternatives to a peaceful resolution here are bad for everybody. That’s our job.” pic.twitter.com/PB9a5budBJ
At lunch time on Thursday, a Russian spokesman complained the Ukrainians were wasting their time in Isbanbul, claiming they had been waiting to meet with the Ukrainians “since morning” but had seen nothing of them.
Moscow also returned Ukraine’s accusation that Russia isn’t truly interested in peace, only in stringing negotiations along to buy time. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this morning, per state media, that the West is driven to try and “inflict strategic defeats” on the country because “They probably don’t like the fact that Russia is independent” of Western control.
He continued: “There is a lot of evidence that neither Berlin, nor Paris, nor Brussels, nor especially London really want any peace at all in Ukraine”. Indeed, Lavrov continued to express Russia’s preoccupation with the United Kingdom, having also said: “To be honest, the British are like guides leading Zelensky through the jungle of world politics. Some adviser to the British Prime Minister on national security has already been seconded to Zelensky so that he blurts out too much and does not completely bury his reputation and, at the same time, the reputation of those who train him”.
This story is developing, more follows
