U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that there would be no progress toward peace in Ukraine until he meets with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as much-hyped Moscow-Kyiv talks in Istanbul turned into a huge nothingburger.
“Look, nothing is gonna happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One en route to the United Arab Emirates. “And he wasn’t gonna go … He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we are gonna have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Turkey ready for talks, but Putin refused to attend and instead sent a lower-level delegation, angering the Kyiv side and throwing into doubt whether there would be any negotiations at all.
This story is being updated.
