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Analysts downbeat on first talks between Russia and Ukraine

May 16, 2025, 8:31am EDT
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Cagla Gurdogan/Reuters

Russian and Ukrainian officials join peace talks today in Turkey, their first such negotiations since Moscow’s 2022 invasion — a landmark meeting that officials were nevertheless downbeat about.

Though Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Turkey and called for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to join, Moscow ultimately sent a relatively low-level delegation, with US President Donald Trump acknowledging that little progress was expected unless he himself met with Putin.

Though Trump initially pursued a rapprochement with Moscow, he has voiced growing frustration with Putin’s apparent unwillingness to enter ceasefire negotiations.

The Russian leader’s dispatching of what Zelenskyy called a “sham level” set of negotiators “is a signal that Putin has chosen war over de-escalation,” one Russian analyst said.

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