The United States “doesn’t have high expectations” for negotiations in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine to end the war, America’s top diplomat has admitted.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said he did not think there would be a “breakthrough” in discussions until Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet to discuss it directly.
Russia and Ukraine are preparing to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, but the negotiations will take place in the aftermath of Mr Putin declining Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s offer of an in-person meeting.
It came after Mr Putin proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine over the war “without any preconditions” after the “coalition of the willing” countries threatened Russia with fresh sanctions if it failed to take part in a 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday. In response Mr Zelenskyy had called on Mr Putin to meet him in Istanbul.
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The Ukrainian president said he was sending a team headed by his defence minister, from the Turkish capital Ankara to Istanbul, to meet the Ukrainian delegation, though he said Moscow’s team did not include “anyone who actually makes decisions”.
Mr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of not taking efforts to end the conflict seriously by sending a low-level negotiating team he described as “a theatre prop”.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who is heading Moscow’s delegation, said: “The task of these direct negotiations with Ukraine is to establish long-term peace sooner or later by eliminating the root causes of this conflict.”
He later said he expected Ukraine’s representatives to turn up for the beginning of discussions on Friday morning.
Mr Rubio said he will meet Ukraine’s delegation on Friday, adding: “It’s my assessment that I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until the president [Mr Trump] and President Putin interact directly on this topic.”
The team sent by Russia “does not indicate a breakthrough”, he said, before going on to say: “I hope tomorrow the news says they’ve agreed a ceasefire. But it’s not my assessment.”
He was echoing remarks made by Mr Trump earlier in the day, when he said: “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.”
Asked if any plans were under way for a meeting between the US and Russian leaders, Mr Rubio said Mr Trump was going to make a decision once his trip to the Middle East finishes.
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Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides in the war since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, along with more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the UN.
Russian forces are preparing for a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts have warned.
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Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Putin of “standing in the way of peace”, with the prime minister saying: “There was only one country that started this conflict – that was Russia. That was Putin. There’s only one country now standing in the way of peace – that is Russia, that is Putin.”
