President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he would attend talks with Russia on the war in Ukraine this week only if Vladimir Putin is also there, and goaded him by saying the Russian leader was scared to meet him face-to-face.
The Kremlin has yet to say whether Putin will take part in the talks scheduled to be held in Istanbul on Thursday, more than three years into the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
The planned talks have become the main focus of peace efforts led by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is sending senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, three sources familiar with the plans said. Trump has also offered to attend.
Zelenskiy said he wanted to negotiate an unconditional 30-day ceasefire as the first step towards ending the war, and that Putin must take part in talks because “absolutely everything in Russia” depends on him.