Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
US president Donald Trump has appeared to suggest that he could join the Russia-Ukraine meeting in Turkey on Thursday “if he felt it would be important toward getting the deal done.”
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed his attendance earlier in a bid to reassure Trump that he was committed to agreeing on a ceasefire as soon as possible.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin is yet to declare his plans, but Trump hinted that he could be attending, saying “I believe the two leaders are going to be there.”
Trump also said he “had a feeling” that Russia would agree to a ceasefire and “good things can happen” (16:17), boasting about his personal role in making the meeting happen (16:47).
Earlier today, European allies said “Russia has not shown any serious intent to make progress,” as they pledged to “pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia’s ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues” (16:23).
A German government spokesperson even appeared to suggest that Moscow was given until the end of the day to publicly commit to a deal, and would risk tighter sanctions regime if it failed to comply (12:42).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Trump suggests he could join Russia, Ukraine talks in Turkey - snap analysis
Does he actually mean it?
But Trump was clearly very keen to repeatedly stress that this meeting was his initiative, it’s only happening because he insisted on it, and – most importantly – that he would join it if he thought there was a chance of success.
But that leaves us with so many questions.
What does he define as a success? Would it be getting the two sides to agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, or something more?
As Patrick Wintour notes in his comment, it currently remains unclear if Putin will himself go to Istanbul to hold talks with Zelenskyy, a leader that he does not recognise as legitimate.
But could this promise of a high-level meeting with Trump change something in his calculation? What’s the policy intent behind that comment? Is there any?
Not sure anyone can claim to have the answers here.
