American representatives will participate in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia - Rubio
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not attend the talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul today, 16 May. However, American representatives will attend the talks.
According to Censor.NET, he said this during a briefing in Turkey.
"I hope these talks will take place between Ukraine and Russia with the participation of our Turkish partners, as well as a representative or representatives of our side at the appropriate level. I was supposed to be here for the NATO meeting anyway. But we came because we received information about a possible direct meeting between Russians and Ukrainians. That was the original plan. You all heard the same thing. But it didn't happen. And if it does, it will not be at the level we expected. I would like to be wrong," he said.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that there would be no progress in peace talks on Russia's war against Ukraine until he met with Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin.
Negotiations in Turkey
On the night of 11 May, Putin offered to resume direct talks with Ukraine "without any preconditions" in Turkey on 15 May.
US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should immediately agree to Russia's proposal for direct talks in Turkey.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would personally wait for Putin on 15 May. He also said that he wants Trump to be present in Turkey.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has officially approved the composition of the delegation that will travel to Istanbul on 15 May for talks with Ukraine.
On 15 May, a Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul for talks with Ukraine.
Later, it became known that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would send a Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul for talks with the Russian side.
Russian media later reported that the talks between the delegations of Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul had been postponed to 16 May.
