The News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hoped to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey this week, in what could mark a turning point for the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s pledge that he will “be waiting for Putin… Personally,” came a day after European leaders gathered in Kyiv to pressure Moscow to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
Kyiv had previously said it wouldn’t enter into direct talks with Moscow without a truce already in place — to do otherwise was seen as “a show of weakness; of Ukraine and its partners blinking first,” The Economist wrote.
But the Ukrainian leader likely does not want to lose favor with US President Donald Trump: Just before Zelenskyy’s announcement Sunday, Trump had again urged him to meet with Putin.