ISTANBUL, Turkey
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in Turkey on Thursday, after he challenged Russian president Vladimir Putin over the weekend to meet him personally.
Zelenskyy said that he still
hopes for a ceasefire with Russia starting Monday, and that he will “be waiting
for Putin” in Turkey “personally” after US president Donald Trump insisted
Ukraine accept Russia’s latest offer — to hold direct talks in Turkey on
Thursday.
Ukraine, along with European
allies, had demanded Russia accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire ahead of
the talks.
Moscow effectively rejected the proposal and called for direct negotiations instead.
It was not clear if
Zelenskyy was conditioning his presence in Turkey on the Monday ceasefire
holding, and there was no immediate comment from the Kremlin on whether Putin
would go.
In 2022, the war’s early
months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with the Russian
president but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that
holding negotiations with Putin had become impossible.
“We await a full and lasting
ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for
diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting
for Putin in (Turkey) on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians
will not look for excuses,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday.
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