Trump considers traveling to Turkey for Russia-Ukraine talks if Putin attends

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he could travel to Turkey if his Russian peer, Vladimir Putin, decides to take part in direct talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to end more than three years of conflict.

It was the Russian leader who proposed this format of negotiations last week, as a counter-offer to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by Kyiv and its allies. But the Kremlin has so far not confirmed Putin's participation in the negotiations.

The meeting scheduled for Thursday in Istanbul will be the first roundtable talks between Russians and Ukrainians since March 2022, a month after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

Zelensky said Wednesday that he was ready for "any form of negotiations" and will decide what "steps" to take when he knows who will represent Moscow at the talks. He will "personally" attend the meeting, he assured last Sunday.

Ukrainian leader urged Trump to travel to Turkey

The Ukrainian leader on Tuesday urged Trump to travel to Turkey to convince Putin to attend. The Republican had announced the presence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the U.S. side in the mediation.

"I know he would like me to be there, and it is a possibility. If we could end the war, I would consider it," Trump added while flying to Qatar, in the middle of a tour of the region.

The president noted that he is scheduled to be in United Arab Emirates on Thursday, on the third and final leg of his Gulf agenda. Asked about a possible trip to Turkey, he replied, "That doesn't mean I wouldn't do it to save a lot of lives."

Marco Rubio is already planning to travel to Istanbul

The head of U.S. diplomacy, Marco Rubio, is already planning to travel to Istanbul to mediate the conflict. The Russian side will also be present, but the composition of its delegation is not known at the moment.

Rubio himself repeatedly threatened to give up diplomatic efforts. Despite the planned negotiations, the two sides maintain major differences on how to end the conflict.

Putin demands that Ukraine renounce NATO membership and guarantees that it will keep the annexed Ukrainian territories. But these conditions are unacceptable to Kyiv and its allies.

Kyiv, for its part, wants solid "security guarantees" to prevent any further Russian attacks and for Moscow's army to withdraw from its soil.