By James Marson, Ian Lovett and Alexander Ward

Ukraine's president says he will be waiting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Thursday for Vladimir Putin, but the Russian president is sending a team of negotiators to Istanbul and the Kremlin won't say if he will be there. President Trump hasn't ruled out the possibility of joining the talks and his officials are heading to Turkey, though it isn't clear who they will meet.

Diplomatic brinkmanship over efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine reached dizzying levels on Wednesday, with each side seeking to call the other's bluff by demonstrating they alone want peace and the other is the obstacle to it.

At the heart of the extraordinary back-and-forth are the competing priorities that make a peace deal only a remote possibility. Trump has made such a deal a key diplomatic priority, but he has threatened to walk away if there isn't progress soon. Both sides are attempting to show their willingness to move forward without yielding on their ultimate goals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants to meet the Russian leader to discuss an unconditional, 30-day cease-fire proposed by the U.S. that Ukraine agreed to in March, but Putin has prevaricated over.

The Russian president wants Ukraine to capitulate, even as Russian forces struggle to advance on the battlefield. He appears to see the talks, which he proposed at the weekend, as a continuation of stalled negotiations from March 2022 in Istanbul that resulted in a draft document designed to neuter Ukraine. Zelensky says they need a cease-fire before discussing a settlement.

The question now is which side Trump comes down on. He has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin's reluctance to halt his invasion, but has shown no inclination to punish Russia with sanctions.

"Trump needs to believe that Putin actually lies," Zelensky said at a news conference on Tuesday in Kyiv. "We should do our part. Sensibly approach this issue, to show that it's not us that is slowing down the process."

Zelensky had urged Trump to join talks in Ankara, but the U.S. president, who is on a tour of the Middle East, said at the moment he was unavailable.

"Now tomorrow, we're all booked out," he told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday. "Now that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it to save a lot of lives and come back."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in Turkey for the talks, skipping the United Arab Emirates portion of Trump's Middle East visit. Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy to many hot spots, and Ukraine lead Keith Kellogg will join him.

After claiming he could end the three-year conflict in one day, Trump is nearly four months into his second administration with little to show for the diplomatic effort he started. In recent days, Trump has told aides he would consider getting Russia and Ukraine to talk directly and seriously. The White House would consider this a win in itself, since it would allow the U.S. to pull back from the negotiations and focus on other priorities.

Trump has similarly launched quick-fire, high-stakes diplomatic initiatives, including nuclear talks with Iran, trade negotiations with China, a truce with Houthi rebels, and cease-fire and hostage-release negotiations between Israel and Hamas, with whom the U.S. separately arranged the release of the last American hostage in Gaza.

Elsewhere, European Union officials approved a 17th round of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, this time targeting some 200 ships that are deemed part of Moscow's "shadow fleet" that transports illicit oil. Further sanctions are planned, with some officials acknowledging that what's been done so far hasn't been enough to make Russia halt its invasion.

"This war has to end," Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, wrote Wednesday on X. "We will keep the pressure high on the Kremlin."

Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com, Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com and Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 14, 2025 09:17 ET (13:17 GMT)

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