Zelenskyi meets Turkey’s Erdogan in Ankara, Putin will not travel to Istanbul for peace talks, Trump drops hints he could attend the talks in Turkey on Friday. More than 160 battles happened on the front lines Wednesday, Ukraine’s General Staff says. Russia is amassing forces for a new Ukraine offensive, U.S. officials cited by CNN say.
Zelenskyi meets Turkey’s Erdogan in Ankara, Putin will not travel to Istanbul for peace talks, Trump drops hints he could attend talks in Turkey on Friday
Direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv are expected to take place in Turkey on Thursday. They will be the first face-to-face negotiations between the sides since spring 2022 when Russia laid out a series of demands that were unacceptable to Ukraine.
The Kremlin announced late on Wednesday the composition of Russia’s delegation of negotiators to conduct the talks with Ukraine. Russian leader Vladimir Putin was not among the names listed as being due to attend peace talks on Thursday. Russia’s delegation will instead be headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, according to the Kremlin statement. Medinsky was also delegation chair in 2022. As of Thursday morning, Ukraine did not say whether it will take part in lower-level talks with Russia.
Ukraine hosted a meeting of leaders of the so-called “coalition of the willing” on Saturday, May 10. European leaders urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine starting on Monday. In a late-night address on Sunday, Putin ignored the ceasefire offer and instead proposed holding “direct talks” with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday. Russia positions the talks as an extension of ones with Ukraine in 2022.
Trump who initially backed the precondition of a 30-day ceasefire as a prelude to talks, instead urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to “immediately” accept the Russian leader’s offer to hold peace talks in Turkey. Zelenskyi said he was ready to meet Putin in Turkey on Thursday. He later added that he will only negotiate with Putin. For days, Trump repeatedly stirred speculation that he might upend his Middle East travel schedule to join the Russians and Ukrainians at the negotiating table. But shortly after the Kremlin released a list of their delegation attending the talks — signaling for the first time Putin would not be on hand — two White House officials told CNN that Trump would also not be attending. Yet Trump said on Thursday he would go to Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey on Friday “if it is appropriate”.
More than 160 battles happened on front lines Wednesday, Ukraine’s General Staff says
There were 168 combat engagements in the past day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a morning update on Thursday. Russia launched 68 air strikes, dropping 108 glide bombs on Ukrainian troops’ positions and populated areas. It also conducted a missile strike with a single missile. Russian forces made 5,298 attacks, including 151 with the use of multiple launch rocket systems, and deployed 3,327 kamikaze drones.
Russia launched air strikes at towns and villages in Sumy region (Richky and Bilopillya), in Kharkiv region (Kupyansk), in Donetsk region (Yalta, Kostyantynivka, Pokrovsk, Zvirove, Zaporizhzhia, Novoukrayinka and Novopil), in the region of Dnipro (Dachne), and in Zaporizhzhia region (Hulyaipole, Vysoke, Stepnohirsk and Kamyanske).
In the past day, Ukrainian aircraft, missile troops and artillery units struck three areas where Russian troops and weapons amassed. They also hit four artillery systems, a radar station and nine other important Russian sites, the General Staff said.
Russia amassing forces for new Ukraine offensive, U.S. officials cited by CNN say
As Ukrainian and Russian officials prepare to potentially meet in Turkey, Russia is amassing forces on the frontlines for a possible new offensive intended to capture more Ukrainian territory, two US officials with knowledge of the latest US assessments told CNN. The paragraphs below are quoted from the news piece.
Russian commanders “aspire to generate a big force,” the first US official said, adding that the likely offensive is focused on gaining more ground in eastern Ukraine.
“Putin will attempt to take whatever land he can get right up to the outskirts of Kyiv,” the second US official said. “The Russians are going to make every effort to get what they can.”
The preparations come as Ukraine is suffering a major manpower shortage on the battlefield. US assessments show that it is largely Ukrainian drone capabilities and the effectiveness of its minefields that are holding back Russia despite its sizable manpower advantage, both in Eastern Ukraine and inside Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces still maintain a foothold.
Russia is having its own challenges amassing the forces it would like, as the two sides have continued a grinding and deadly war of attrition in eastern Ukraine. In addition, the first official told CNN that there is no indication that North Korea is currently able to significantly increase its own troops levels in Ukraine, following the loss of thousands of its soldiers in the fighting.
However, for weeks now, US assessments have shown little change in Russia’s war aims, including taking control of more Ukrainian territory, despite the Trump administration urging the Kremlin to abide by a 30-day ceasefire and to enter substantive peace talks.