kyiv, Paris, Berlin, London and Warsaw called Vladimir Putin to accept a 30-day ceasefire from May 12. And Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to go to Türkiye to negotiate directly with the chief of the Kremlin. But on the Russian side, Moscow refuses to reveal the composition of a possible delegation in Türkiye and above all to confirm or deny an arrival of Vladimir Putin. “The Russian party continues to prepare for the negotiations which must take place on Thursday. For the time being, we are not planning to comment more, “said the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, adding that the” Russian delegation will be present and await the Ukrainian part “.
Faced with this situation, Volodymyr Zelensky urged Donald Trump to go to Türkiye to convince Vladimir Putin to participate in this meeting. For the moment, Volodymyr Zelensky accuses The Russian president of “not wanting” The end of the War in Ukrainebut swears wanting to “do everything” that this meeting at the top was held on Thursday in the Turkish city. ” If President Trump confirmed his participation, I think that would give an additional momentum for Putin to come, “said the Ukrainian president.
Brazilian President Lula assured on Wednesday since Beijing that he would personally push his “comrade Putin” to go to Istanbul on May 15 to speak directly with the Ukrainian head of state. “It costs me nothing to tell him: Eh, comrade Putin, goes to Istanbul to negotiate, damn it,” he said.
On Monday, before a tour in the Gulf, Donald Trump who has been looking for the United States from Russia closer to the United States to come closer to the two belligerents coming to negotiate in Türkiye. The American billionaire even said “to consider” to make a hook by Istanbul. But at this stage, it is Secretary of State Marco Rubio who “will be”, according to Donald Trump.
The next events will therefore be decisive. On the side of the European allies of kyiv, “our will, is to take sanctions “If Russia” confirms non-compliance “of a ceasefire, hammered Tuesday evening Emmanuel Macron during his intervention on TF1. “The Ukrainians themselves have the lucidity to say that they will not have the capacity to resume the entirety of what has been taken since 2014 by Russia,” also recognized the French head of state.
Turkey at the center of the game
Anyway, Volodymyr Zelensky will go on Wednesday or Thursday in Ankara to see his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to kyiv. Turkey had welcomed first talks between Russians and Ukrainians in March 2022, but without any results. Since then, the discussions have stalled, even if Donald Trump, returned to power on January 20, is trying to relaunch them after more than three years of war which have made several tens of thousands of deaths, civilians and military.
The fact remains that Moscow sets its conditions. The Russian Foreign Deputy Minister Sergei Riabkov, repeated that his country absolutely wanted to discuss “the primary sources” of the conflict. In addition to Ukraine’s non-adhesion to NATO, Vladimir Putin tirelessly claims the demilitarization of Ukraine and the assurance that Russia keeps the Ukrainian territories annexed in 2022, in addition to the Crimea occupied since 2014.
Russia more broadly wants a complete overhaul of security architecture in Europe, considering that NATO rapproche to its borders since the 1990s is an existential threat. Except that for the time being, Ukraine and its allies reject these claims, claiming that the Russian army, which still occupies 20 % of the Ukrainian territory, leads an imperialist conflict in this ex-Soviet republic.
