The US president could change his travel plans on Friday ‘if something happened’
US President Donald Trump is considering a visit to Türkiye on Friday, as Ukraine and Russia are set to resume direct peace negotiations for the first time since 2022.
The US leader, who seeks to facilitate a truce in the Ukraine conflict, said he could alter travel arrangements amid his ongoing Middle East trip. “If something happened, I’d go on Friday if it was appropriate,” he told journalists in Qatar on Thursday morning.
Trump reiterated his wish to end the Ukraine conflict and expressed hope “that Russia and Ukraine are able to do something, because it has to stop.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed last week to restart negotiations that Kiev aborted in April 2022 to pursue a military victory. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky responded by declaring that he will personally go to Türkiye and expects Putin to do the same to prove his intentions.
Moscow listed the members of its delegation late on Wednesday. It is being led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who played the role during previous negotiations with Kiev.
When asked by the media whether he was disappointed by the composition, Trump said he didn’t expect Putin to travel to Türkiye as he himself hadn’t made similar public arrangements.
“I said, I don’t think he’s going to go if I don’t go. And that’s turned out to be right,” he explained, adding that he has confidence in members of his administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who would travel to Istanbul on Friday alongside Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The list of Russian officials sent to Istanbul also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, and Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff Igor Kostyukov, the head of the country’s military intelligence.
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In 2022, Medinsky’s team negotiated a potential peace deal. Its terms offered Kiev Russian security guarantees in exchange for neutrality and restrictions on its standing army. David Arakhamia, who headed the Ukrainian delegation, later revealed following the pre-approval of the draft treaty that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had told Kiev to “just fight,” leading to the continuation of hostilities.
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