Updates: Ahead of Istanbul talks, Zelenskyy says Russia does not want peace

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We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a look at the day’s main events:

• The local time in Turkiye is now 20:45 and it is unclear whether direct talks between the warring sides will take place on Thursday in Istanbul, as earlier expected. They could be delayed until Friday, according to media reports.
• Ukraine and Russia had agreed to the first direct peace talks in years, but the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin would not join the meeting.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s decision to send a delegation of second tier representatives was a “sign of disrespect”. He confirmed, however, that he would dispatch a Ukrainian team to Istanbul led by Kyiv’s defence minister.
• US President Donald Trump said that “nothing is going to happen” until he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin, dimming hopes that a ceasefire would be agreed in Istanbul.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the only way a breakthrough will happen would be through direct talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after Moscow sent a second-tier team to talks taking place in Turkiye.

Rubio, who spoke to reporters in Antalya, said he would travel to Istanbul for meetings on Friday with Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and a Ukrainian delegation, but said he did not have high expectations for the talks.

“It’s my assessment that I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until the president [Trump] and President Putin interact directly on this topic,” Rubio said.

Trump earlier on Thursday said “nothing is going to happen” on the path towards peace between the warring sides until he meets Putin.

How has Russia’s leader maintained his longevity – and how has it shaped the world?

With all eyes on the Russian president today, given his absence in the peace talks, listen to what the Russian writer, author and journalist Mikhail Zygar has to say about Putin’s rise to power, how his worldview has changed and what we can expect from him next.

We’ve heard US President Donald Trump saying that “nothing is going to happen” until he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This gives a clear indication that the expectation for these talks in Istanbul isn’t high, even though it’s the first time the Russians and the Ukrainians meet face-to-face since 2022.

There still is an enormous gulf between the two sides. We’ve heard Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the goal is to reach a long-term peace by eliminating the core reasons for this conflict, while Russia maintains that it wants the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine’s leadership and for the country to not follow through with its ambition to join NATO.

Germany and its allies will move to confiscate frozen Russian assets if legally possible, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Zeit newspaper.

There are also discussions about more sanctions against Russia in the energy sector, banking sector, and further actions regarding sanctions against individuals, Merz said.

A possible seizure of Russian assets was “currently being clarified,” Merz said. “If there is a way to mobilise the money on a sound legal basis, we will do it. However, we must also be aware of the risks that such a step entails for the European financial market.”

After Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, immobilising approximately $300bn of sovereign Russian assets.

European leaders want to use those assets to help rebuild Ukraine, but have yet to reach an agreement on how to avoid legal challenges or setting a problematic international precedent, with several options under consideration.

Here is a reminder that there are three major events taking place in Turkiye today and tomorrow:

• A NATO meeting in the southern Turkish city of Antalya took place earlier today.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met his Turkish counterpart in Turkiye’s capital, Ankara, today and addressed the press afterwards at Ukraine’s embassy in Turkiye.
• Direct talks are still set to take place between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, Turkiye’s largest city, located northwest of the country.

The Ukrainian and Turkish presidents had a long one-on-one meeting, along with talks and a working lunch at the presidential complex in Ankara.

After that, Zelenskyy came to the Ukrainian embassy to announce whether he would be sending any delegation to Istanbul. He decided to send a delegation.

After speaking to his Turkish counterpart, Zelenskyy seemed to have agreed to take a first step for a ceasefire, which is very important in order to start direct peace talks with Russia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be flying to Istanbul and the White House presidential adviser will also be there.

The two delegations will come together, and that’s a good start, but there are disagreements over a ceasefire as the two sides haven’t been able to agree on that since 2022.

The European Union has adopted its 17th sanctions package against Moscow, designed to stifle Russia’s economy and force President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

Now, EU ministers are considering what more might be done to undermine his political clout.

Capital controls, which would be aimed at restricting money flowing in and out of Russia, and trade measures such as tariffs, are two options.

Capital controls can take a variety of forms, including restrictions on foreign investment, limiting currency exchange or imposing taxes on the movement of capital.

The commission also aims to share proposals next month that would allow EU trade measures to ban new Russian gas spot market contracts – deals for immediate delivery and payment.

Read more in our explainer here.

Ukraine’s president has said Russia’s decision to send a delegation of low-level representatives for talks in Turkiye was a “sign of disrespect”.

“Russia once again demonstrated that it does not intend to end the war,” Zelenskyy said on X. “We expect a clear and strong response from partners.”

I am standing right in front of the Ukrainian embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where Zelenskyy is addressing members of the foreign media.

He said that since Russian President Vladimir Putin is not coming, there is no need for him to be in the direct talks in Istanbul that are going to take place either late today or tomorrow.

But he chose a delegation that could be in the same equilibrium as the Russian delegation, and he said they didn’t mind taking the first step towards an immediate ceasefire that is necessary for direct peace talks.

This is what Turkish President Erdogan has also been advising his Ukrainian counterpart today during their meeting and the working lunch.

Before that, presidential sources announced that Erdogan would emphasise the importance of an imminent ceasefire and the necessity of direct peace talks.

There won’t be any negotiations, and Zelenskyy underlined that even his delegation has no mandate to decide anything.

So tomorrow, it is probably going to be technical talks between the two delegations.

We have had a couple of interesting comments coming out of that NATO meeting in Antalya.

Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s foreign minister, says that Russia and Ukraine must compromise on a path towards peace and that Turkiye hopes intensive discussions between the sides will achieve results.

We also have Mark Rutte, NATO secretary-general, saying that Russia is not taking on the opportunity Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been providing by sending a low-level delegation.

Russia and Ukraine are under a lot of pressure, particularly from the US administration, to show that they are serious about some sort of peace talks.

The Trump administration has threatened to abandon its diplomatic role unless progress is made.

We have seen Zelenskyy being leaned on heavily by Washington and the Trump administration in February, culminating in that infamous confrontation in the White House, in the Oval Office, between US Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy.

Now, Trump has been showing more impatience recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin, threatening increased sanctions on the Russians unless they show serious progress towards peace.

Turkiye’s top diplomat says there is cause for hope before the expected talks between Russian and Ukrainian mediators in what could be their first direct talks in more than three years.

“If the parties’ positions are harmonised and trust is established, a very important step towards peace will have been taken. We have enough reasons to be hopeful,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at the end of a NATO meeting in the southern Turkish city of Antalya.

US President Donald Trump says, “Nothing’s going to happen until Russian President Vladimir Putin and I get together, OK?”

He made the comment to reporters on board Air Force One just before landing in Dubai on the third stop of his Middle East trip.

Earlier, Trump, who had pressed for Putin and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to meet in Istanbul, brushed off Putin’s absence from the talks.

“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.