An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin will lead a Russian delegation in talks with Ukrainian officials that will be held in Istanbul on Thursday, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday night.
The aide, Vladimir Medinsky, led the Russian delegation the last time Russia and Ukraine held direct negotiations, in 2022. The US discouraged those negotiations, but now the Trump administration is pushing for direct Russian and Ukrainian engagement.
The Russian announcement came after a few days of uncertainty over who Russia would send to the talks. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky had been demanding that Putin attend himself, and President Trump suggested that he might join in if that were to happen.
It remains unclear who Ukraine will send to the negotiations. “I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take,” Zelensky said before the Kremlin announcement.
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, who has been involved in the Russia-Ukraine talks, said that he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be traveling to Istanbul for talks on the Russia-Ukraine war on Friday.
President Trump said on Wednesday that he thought there would be “some pretty good news” related to the Russia-Ukraine talks in the coming days, but said he was considering imposing “secondary sanctions” on Russia if progress isn’t made.
