{"id":335901,"date":"2025-05-16T00:06:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T21:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=335901"},"modified":"2025-05-16T00:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T21:06:50","slug":"1177","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/1177","title":{"rendered":"Day 1,177: Zelenskyi arrives in Ankara, but Putin will not travel to Turkey for peace talks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Zelenskyi meets Turkey\u2019s 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\u2019s General Staff says. Russia is amassing forces for a new Ukraine offensive, U.S. officials cited by CNN say.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelenskyi meets Turkey\u2019s Erdogan in Ankara, Putin will not travel to Istanbul for peace talks, Trump drops hints he could attend talks in Turkey on Friday<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kremlin announced late on Wednesday the composition of Russia\u2019s 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\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine hosted a meeting of leaders of the so-called \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d 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 \u201cdirect talks\u201d with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday. Russia positions the talks as an extension of ones with Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump who initially backed the precondition of a 30-day ceasefire as a prelude to talks, instead urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to \u201cimmediately\u201d accept the Russian leader\u2019s 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 \u2014 signaling for the first time Putin would not be on hand \u2014 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 \u201cif it is appropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 160 battles happened on front lines Wednesday, Ukraine\u2019s General Staff says<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019 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.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia amassing forces for new Ukraine offensive, U.S. officials cited by CNN say<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian commanders \u201caspire to generate a big force,\u201d the first US official said, adding that the likely offensive is focused on gaining more ground in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPutin will attempt to take whatever land he can get right up to the outskirts of Kyiv,\u201d the second US official said. \u201cThe Russians are going to make every effort to get what they can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces still maintain a foothold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, for weeks now, US assessments have shown little change in Russia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zelenskyi meets Turkey\u2019s 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\u2019s General Staff says. Russia is amassing forces for a new Ukraine offensive, U.S. officials cited by CNN […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":335902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[699,611,748],"tags":[8921,32939,32702,6910,32654,32733,32727,33470,7265,1124,6908,32709],"section":[743],"form":[],"yoast_head":"\nDay 1,177: Zelenskyi arrives in Ankara, but Putin will not travel to Turkey for peace talks | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zelenskyi meets Turkey\u2019s Erdogan in Ankara, Putin will not travel to Istanbul for peace talks, Trump drops hints he could attend the talks in Turkey on | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/1177\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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