US President Donald Trump said he wasn’t surprised that Russian President Vladimir Putin skipped the highly anticipated peace talks with Ukraine. On Thursday, Trump made it clear that he thinks no progress will be made in the Russia-Ukraine conflict unless he and Putin meet face-to-face.
“Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together. Okay?” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. He was responding to a question about the peace talks taking place in Turkey.
Earlier, Trump urged Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but the Russian leader chose not to attend. According to Trump, Putin backed out because he found out Trump wouldn’t be there either.
“He was going to go — but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there,” Trump added. “And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Trump also said he wasn’t upset that Putin had sent a lower-level team to represent Russia at the meeting. “I’m not disappointed in anything,” he said. “Why would I be disappointed? We just took in $4 trillion and he says ‘are you disappointed about a delegation?'”
PEACE TALKS FALLS WITHOUT TOP LEADERS
Trump had indicated that he might travel to Istanbul. “If something happened, I would go on Friday if it was appropriate,” he told reporters while in Qatar. He also mentioned that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already present in Turkey on America’s behalf.
These were the first direct talks planned between Russia and Ukraine since the war. The Kremlin confirmed that a Russian delegation was present, but Putin had no plans to attend in person.
When asked if Putin would attend if Trump decided to show up, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “It is premature to say what kind of participation will be required and at what level, because we do not know if the Ukrainian negotiators will show up or not and how the negotiations will go.”
In response to Russia’s move, Zelenskyy said he will not attend the peace talks in Istanbul. Instead, Ukraine’s delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and including senior military and intelligence officials will be there.