Kyiv: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told a group of journalists in his office that the US president Donald Trump should understand that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the real obstacle to end the war.
Zelenskyy told journalists including from The Guardian that he would travel to Turkey for talks on Thursday no matter Putin shows up or not
‘Trump needs to believe that Putin actually lies. And we should do our part. Sensibly approach this issue, to show that it’s not us that is slowing down the process,’ he was quoted as saying.
Expressing willingness to travel to Turkey to meet the country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he said ‘If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war’.
After Putin expressed interest for a direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul earlier, Zelenskyy offered to personally wait for Putin in Turkey on Thursday.
President Trump toys with the idea of carrying out a three-way meeting by personally joining Putin and Zelenskyy, saying ‘I believe the two leaders are going to be there. I was thinking about flying over’.
Zelenskyy is reportedly in the hope that if Trump turns up, Putin will be pushed to travel to Turkey, adding that ‘Trump can really help. It’s the situation where the US being present can give important guarantees’.
It is reported that Putin is less likely to show up instead Russia would send ‘a lower-level negotiating team to Istanbul’.
Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russian delegation would be there ‘and will wait for the Ukrainian side’.
Meanwhile, Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, wanted to direct the talks to discuss ‘root causes’ of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow wanted ‘denazification’ of Ukraine alongside it seeks to incorporate annexed territories into Russia, according to the report.
However, Zelenskyy does not believe in lower-level talks without leaders agreeing for a ceasefire.