Trump Shares Big Update Ahead of Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks
A highly anticipated round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia disintegrated into chaos this week, leading U.S. President Donald Trump to make a direct and forceful statement: no meaningful progress will happen without a face-to-face meeting between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Look, nothing is gonna happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump told reporters Thursday aboard Air Force One as he traveled 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.”
President Trump’s remarks come as a summit in Istanbul aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia fell apart before it began. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived with a senior delegation, Putin declined to attend and instead dispatched a lower-level team—prompting fury from Kyiv and widespread speculation that Russia is not taking diplomatic efforts seriously.
Zelenskyy’s team, including Ukraine’s defense and foreign ministers, had hoped the talks would demonstrate Russia’s intransigence to President Trump and catalyze a U.S.-led push for an unconditional ceasefire. But without Putin present, the Ukrainian government dismissed the Russian side’s participation as hollow and unserious.
“The Russian chair in Turkey is de facto empty,” said a Ukrainian diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity. “Because it makes little difference whether Mr. Nobody, sent by Putin, and his insignificant colleagues sit in their chairs or not. They are not the ones making decisions.”
The official continued: “And the person who does—Putin—is either afraid to come or does not take the U.S.-led peace effort seriously.”
Despite the breakdown, Ukraine had agreed to dispatch a delegation headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to Istanbul, citing respect for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Trump. Zelenskyy himself opted out of the meeting following Putin’s absence and will instead attend the European Political Community summit in Tirana, Albania, alongside Erdoğan.
“Our team will be there ready to discuss ceasefire tomorrow. We will not recognize all occupied territories as Russian. We want a demonstration of pressure on Russia, on Putin. Sanctions from Europe and United States as a minimum,” Zelenskyy said Thursday.
This would have been the first formal meeting between Ukraine and Russia since a failed Istanbul summit in March 2022, which collapsed following revelations of the Bucha massacre committed by Russian forces near Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov escalated rhetoric by warning of continued military retaliation, rejecting any conditions that would suggest a Ukrainian upper hand.
Moscow has refused to budge from its original war aims since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, including the disarmament of Ukraine, revival of Russian cultural dominance, and exclusion of NATO influence in the region.
Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov expressed skepticism toward the sincerity of the diplomatic efforts.
“Russians are getting ready to continue their offensive in Ukraine while pushing for negotiations, and that’s a normal practice, let’s be honest,” Budanov said Wednesday. “Talks do not mean a solution.”
On the eve of the meetings, Russia launched a massive drone barrage using 145 unmanned aerial vehicles, injuring hundreds across eastern Ukraine—including the strategic city of Dnipro—underscoring Moscow’s continued reliance on brute force even as it postures for diplomacy.
For President Trump, the message remains clear: real peace cannot be brokered by proxies or photo ops. It requires leadership at the highest level—and the political will to make hard decisions.
With the Biden administration sidelined and European actors divided, President Trump’s reassertion of direct diplomacy signals a potential turning point in the conflict, should he again step into the role of peacemaker.