By Guardian-Léonie Chao-Fong/Tom Ambrose/Kevin Rawlinson/Helen Livingstone-15 May 2025 18.59 BST

Marco Rubio says US president may need to ‘directly engage’ to determine ‘once and for all what it is the Russian side wants and whether peace is possible’. Who are the diplomats Russia and Ukraine are sending to peace talks in Istanbul?

Rubio says Trump and Putin face-to-face meeting needed for 'breakthrough'

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, told reporters in Turkey:

I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin.

He added that he didn’t think “anything productive is actually going to happen from this point forward” until the US and Russian leaders engage in a “very frank and direct conversation”.

Rubio said Donald Trump is “willing” to have this conversation and “impatient” to the end the war. Rubio repeated:

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.

Turkey's foreign minister to meet Russian delegation in Istanbul

Ruth Michaelson

The Turkish foreign ministry has just announced that Ankara’s top diplomat, Hakan Fidan, will meet the Russian delegation led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Vladimir Putin, at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul this evening.

Despite what appears to be Fidan’s efforts to spur the talks, which both the Russian news agency Tass and Reuters are saying will be held tomorrow, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has meanwhile told reporters that only a meeting between Putin and US president Donald Trump would be enough to power a breakthrough.

Rubio told reporters in Antalya, where he held talks with his Nato counterparts, that he will meet with Fidan and a Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul tomorrow, but expressed skepticism about the talks between Russia and Ukraine. He said:

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.

Trump earlier today said “nothing is going to happen” until he meets Putin.

It’s almost 9pm local time in Istanbul, and there’s not a lot more clarity on these talks than there was when reporters began gathering outside the Dolmabahçe palace first thing this morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Russian delegation as they entered for talks.

We know that a delegation from the Ukrainian side has been dispatched to Istanbul, and is expected to hold talks with a Russian delegation led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Vladimir Putin.

But plenty of other aspects remain unclear, including when each side might show up at the Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul or what both sides believe can be achieved from these talks, especially now that the parameters appear more limited than before.

The Ukrainians have publicly expressed skepticism, including president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that Russia sending a delegation largely composed of deputy ministers for talks is a “sign of disrespect.”

The Ukrainian side is expected to be led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, who was also instrumental during previous talks on grain exports and prisoner swaps with Russia prior to assuming his current role.

Medinsky stressed earlier today that his team has the power “to make decisions,” rather than just carrying messages to Putin, but the Ukrainians have openly expressed skepticism that anyone other than the Russian president can really negotiate on a ceasefire.

Adding to the fray tomorrow will be US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who is expected in Istanbul “for meetings with European counterparts to discuss the conflict in Ukraine and other regional issues of mutual concern,” according to the state department.

Whether Rubio or other US officials might also join these talks is likely to emerge tomorrow.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the “level” of the team sent by the Russian side to Turkey is “certainly not indicative” of a breakthrough in peace talks.

“I hope I’m 100% wrong,” Rubio told reporters.

I hope tomorrow the news says they’ve agreed to a ceasefire [and] they’ve agreed to enter serious negotiations. Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to lead to that.

Rubio said Donald Trump is the only one who can “break this logjam”. “He just wants to end the war, he doesn’t care who gets credit for it,” Rubio said.

The only way we’re going to get a breakthrough … is for the President to directly engage, probably at a personal level, and determine once and for all what it is the Russian side wants and whether peace is possible.

Rubio says Trump and Putin face-to-face meeting needed for 'breakthrough'

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, told reporters in Turkey:

I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin.

He added that he didn’t think “anything productive is actually going to happen from this point forward” until the US and Russian leaders engage in a “very frank and direct conversation”.

Rubio said Donald Trump is “willing” to have this conversation and “impatient” to the end the war. Rubio repeated:

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 says US 'doesn't have high expectations' for Ukraine-Russia talks

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he will meet with Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, and a senior Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on Friday.

Separate talks will be held between other US officials and a “lower-level” Russian delegation, Rubio told reporters.

“I hope that those talks will be between Ukraine and Russia, with Turkish counterparts in the room, along with someone from our team or members of our team at the appropriate level,” he said, adding:

But I want to be frank, I don’t think we don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.

Turkey is ready to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin for peace talks “when they are ready”, according to Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Erdoğan met Zelenskyy in the Turkish capital of Ankara earlier today, after Vladimir Putin refused to travel to Turkey for face-to-face talks with the Ukrainian leader.

In a statement, the Turkish presidency said Erdoğan stressed the need to keep dialogue channels between the sides open given the “historic opportunity” to start peace talks. The two sides should meet on their minimum common ground, Erdoğan added.

Ruth Michaelson

Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has given some very brief comments at a rather hastily arranged press conference outside the Russian consulate in Istanbul.

As if to emphasise that the entire Russian team might be about to leave at any moment, the engine on a nearby diplomatic black Mercedes sedan was loudly left running the entire time, almost drowning out Medinsky’s comments. He said:

We view these talks as a continuation of the 2022 process that was interrupted by the Ukrainian side.

In a pushback against the remarks by both the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and some in Europe, he added that the Russian side “has the power to make decisions.”

There was no word on how long the Russian delegation might remain in Istanbul, with lower-level talks now expected following Zelensky’s comments in Ankara.

Shortly after finishing his very brief remarks, Medinsky got into the black sedan and swiftly sped out of the consulate grounds.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is expected to speak to reporters in Antalya shortly after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers on Thursday.

At the meeting, Rubio said Donald Trump is “open to virtually any mechanism that gets us to a just, enduring and lasting peace and that’s what he wants to see”.

He wants to end wars and that’s the hope with Russia and Ukraine. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days in that regard, but we want to see progress made.

Starmer accuses Putin of 'dragging his feet' after snubbing peace talks

Keir Starmer accused Vladimir Putin of “standing in the way” of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, after the Russian leader refused to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy face-to-face for peace talks in Turkey.

Asked what his message was to Putin, the UK prime minister said:

What’s happened today is further evidence that it’s Putin who is dragging his feet.

It is Putin who is causing the delay in a ceasefire. Ukraine has long been clear, several months ago now, that they would have a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, and we have long said that it’s Putin who is standing in the way of that peace.

The UK defence minister, John Healey, said Ukraine’s allies “need to act” and “put pressure on Putin” amid uncertainty over peace talks in Turkey.

Healey urged further sanctions on Russia as he spoke after a meeting with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, in Berlin on Thursday, Agence-France-Presse reported.

“We need to put pressure on [Vladimir] Putin that helps bring him to the negotiating table,” Healey said, adding:

Now is the time for him … to negotiate and to put an end to this fighting.

He said the Russian leader “has the power to end the war, he could travel to Istanbul and negotiate, he could order a ceasefire”.

Moscow 'ready to discuss possible compromises', says Russian delegation head

The head of Russia’s delegation at peace talks in Turkey, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow is ready to resume the negotiation process and discuss “possible compromises” with Ukraine.

“We are ready to work, to resume the Istanbul talks. We are ready for possible compromises, to discuss them,” Medinsky told state broadcaster Rossiya 24. He added:

We consider these talks as the continuation of the Istanbul peace process that was unfortunately broken off by the Ukrainian side.

Medinsky was referring to talks held between Russia and Ukraine shortly after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He added:

The delegation is determined to be constructive, to search for possible solutions and common ground. The task of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is sooner or later to achieve long-term peace by eliminating the basic root causes of the conflict.

Summary of the day so far

It’s 6.30pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is sending a team, led by his defence minister Rustem Umerov, to peace talks in Istanbul with Russia, which would mark the first direct negotiations since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Zelenskyy will not be attending the Istanbul talks himself, after Vladimir Putin refused to travel to Turkey.
• Vladimir Putin stayed away from proposed peace talks, leaving Zelenskyy waiting in the Turkish capital after challenging the Russian president to face-to-face negotiations. Putin instead dispatched a second-tier team of aides and deputy ministers to Istanbul, which Zelenskyy described as a “dummy delegation”.
• Zelenskyy said Putin’s decision not to attend talks in Ankara showed that Russia was not taking efforts to end the war seriously. The Ukrainian president said he had decided to send officials from Ankara to Istanbul “out of respect” for Donald Trump and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
• Donald Trump said he did not expect progress on Ukraine until he meets Putin in person. “I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” the US president told reporters. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”

• Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Zelenskyy was “pathetic” for demanding Putin attend peace talks in Istanbul. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson accused the Ukrainian leader of being a “clown and loser”. The head of Russia’s delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow sees Thursday’s talks with Ukraine as a “continuation” of failed negotiations in 2022 at the start of its invasion.
• Keir Starmer accused Putin of “dragging his feet” after the Russian leader failed to show for peace talks in Turkey. “It is Putin who is causing the delay in a ceasefire,” the UK prime minister said. “Ukraine has long been clear, several months ago now, that they would have a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.”

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