Trump offers to go to Ukraine talks if Putin does

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Malaysia's Prime Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 14, 2025. [AFP] US President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered to head to Turkey for talks on ending the Ukraine war if his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin also showed up. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Putin to meet him in person in Turkey, but Russia has not confirmed who would attend any talks. "I don't know that he (Putin) would be there if I'm not there," Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Saudi Arabia to Qatar. "I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that," he said. Trump noted that he was already scheduled to be in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday on the third and final leg of his Gulf tour. But, when asked about visiting Turkey, he added: "That doesn't mean I wouldn't do it to save a lot of lives." Secretary of State Marco Rubio is already planning to travel to Istanbul on Friday. "Marco is going and Marco has been very effective," Trump said. Putin himself called for the negotiations, which would be the first face-to-face meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials since the initial weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But Russia has not confirmed who would attend any talks, which have been mentioned for either Thursday or Friday. Asked by AFP in a briefing on Wednesday who would travel from Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to answer. "The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15," he said. 'His war' Zelensky has urged Putin to come himself, saying that skipping the talks would signal an unwillingness by Moscow to seek peace. "This is his war," Zelensky said Tuesday. "Therefore, the negotiations should be with him." Trump took office vowing to end the Ukraine war immediately and had put heavy pressure on Zelensky, whom he berated during a disastrous White House meeting on February 28. Since then the Trump administration has voiced frustration with Russia, which has snubbed an offer backed by Ukraine for an initial 30-day ceasefire. Rubio has repeatedly threatened to give up on Russia-Ukraine diplomacy without progress, saying the United States has other priorities. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who in the past criticised the level of Western support for Ukraine, said he would also seek to persuade Putin to negotiate. "I'll try to talk to Putin," Lula told reporters in Beijing ahead of departure to Moscow. "It costs me nothing to say, 'hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit'" Since the tense White House meeting, Ukraine has sought to repair the relationship with Trump including by backing his diplomatic initiatives. Ukraine sealed an agreement with the Trump administration for joint development of minerals that it hopes will commit the United States in the longer term to the country. Trump has scoffed at the billions of dollars in weapons sent to Ukraine under his predecessor Joe Biden as he tries to reduce US commitments around the world. His return to the White House has sent European nations scrambling to step up their own support for Ukraine.

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