US President Donald Trump has called for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the first direct peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years failed to yield results. Trump claimed in an interview with Fox News on May 16 that the meeting with Putin is necessary to end Europe’s longest conflict since World War II, after representatives from Moscow and Kyiv failed to reach an agreement on a cease-fire in Istanbul earlier that day. “We have to get together,” he declared after a four-day visit to the Middle East.

In the interview, Trump stated that he is enthusiastic about dealing with Putin, but that he is prepared to put pressure on Russia if necessary. “I think we’ll make a deal with Putin…[I] will use leverage on Putin if I have to,” stated the Russian president. The peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on May 16 concluded abruptly and with little evidence of progress, other than a prisoner exchange agreement, as Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of making “unacceptable” demands. The conference concluded around 90 minutes after it began. Negotiators reached an agreement to exchange 1,000 inmates from each side in the near future, according to the heads of both delegations. That would be the greatest single swap since Russia began its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

However, there was no apparent evidence that Russia and Ukraine’s enormous differences on topics such as territory and a cease-fire had reduced. European politicians joined Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in criticizing Moscow. “The Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a joint declaration with the leaders of Poland, Germany, and France during a summit in Tirana, Albania. He stated that following a meeting with Zelenskyy, who was also at the summit, and a joint phone call with Trump to discuss the Istanbul negotiations, “we are now closely aligning and coordinating our responses and will continue to do so.”

“Ukraine is ready to take the quickest steps to achieve genuine peace, and it is critical that the world takes a strong stance,” Zelenskyy stated on social media following the call with Trump. “Our position [is that] if the Russians reject a full and unconditional cease-fire and an end to killings, tough sanctions must follow,” according to him. “Pressure on Russia must be maintained until Russia is ready to end the war.” According to Reuters, an unnamed Ukrainian source claimed that the Russian delegation made “nonstarters” that were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed.”

According to AFP, one such demand was “for Ukraine to withdraw forces from large parts of Ukrainian territory it controls in order for a cease-fire to begin.” That was a reference to four regions that Russia partially occupies and falsely claims are Russian: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson. Ukraine controls portions of these areas, including the capitals of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson. Russian comments on the meeting contrasted dramatically with the criticism. The leader of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, an advisor to President Vladimir Putin, stated that Moscow was “satisfied with the overall result” and is “ready to continue contacts.” He claimed his delegation had “taken note” of what he called a Ukrainian request for talks between Zelenskyy and putn

Medinsky further stated that the negotiators reached an agreement that “each side will present its vision of a possible future cease-fire in detail.” After such a vision has been presented, we believe it is right, as previously agreed, to continue our conversations. Expectations for a breakthrough were low at the first direct peace discussions since the failed negotiations held in the first two months of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The May 16 discussions concluded a frenzy of diplomacy fuelled by Trump’s effort to bring the war to a stop, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides as well as an increasing number of Ukrainian civilians.

The Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, along with officials from host country Turkey, began their meeting somewhere after 1 p.m. local time (noon CET) and ended before 3 p.m. (14:00CET). Several separate talks with officials from the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and Turkey were also held. Moscow has rejected appeals from Ukraine, European nations, and the United States for a full and extendable 30-day cease-fire, claiming that a truce can only be reached through discussions, and Putin has turned down Zelenskyy’s invitation to meet in person for the first time since 2019.

Trump Says Meeting With Putin Is Key To Resolution.

“This week, we had a real opportunity to take significant steps toward ending the conflict. “If only Putin hadn’t been afraid to visit Turkey,” Zelenskyy said in Tirana.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan opened the discussions in Istanbul, saying it is of “critical importance” to execute a cease-fire “as soon as possible” and that these talks should serve as the foundation for a leaders’ conference. We firmly think that peace can be achieved through constructive negotiations.” Before the talks, the Ukrainian delegation’s leader, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, stated on Facebook that peace is only possible if “Russia shows its readiness to take specific actions, including a complete cease-fire for at least 30 days and the implementation of humanitarian measures, such as the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children,” as well as the exchange of all prisoners of war.

Trump, who was in the region on a Middle East trip, had intimated that he may travel to Turkey to participate if Putin attended. “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump said after the Kremlin announced a lower-level delegation. After boarding Air Force One in Abu Dhabi on May 16 for the return trip to Washington, Trump stated that he may contact Putin. “He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not,” he joked.

“I don’t know when or where that will take place, but it’s really the only chance at this point,” said Rubio, who met with Ukrainian and Turkish officials at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace ahead of the Ukraine-Russia talks. Rubio underlined “the US position that the killing needs to stop,” according to Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokesperson. Michael Anton, the State Department’s chief of policy planning, was scheduled to meet separately with the Russian delegation. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, a Trump-Putin meeting to address bilateral relations, Ukraine, and other issues is “certainly necessary” but would take time to plan and should not be held until it delivers results.

Putin ordered the full-scale invasion eight years after Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and incited conflict in the eastern Donbas region in 2014. Russia now controls almost one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, but it has come well short of Putin’s aim of subjugating the country, which has been independent since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The only prior direct peace talks collapsed in the spring of 2022 when the parties argued over fundamental grounds of dispute and revealed crimes committed by Russian forces in Bucha, a city they abandoned as they fled from northern Ukraine after failing to conquer Kyiv.