15 May 2025
Ukraine, Tass: 'Russia-Ukraine talks on Friday'. But Turkish Foreign Ministry demurs: no final decision taken yet
Trump: 'Nothing will happen until Putin and I meet'. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not travel directly to Istanbul: the head of the delegation will be the defence minister
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Summary by points
| 15 May 2025
Still no meeting set between Moscow and Kiev. Lavrov: no guarantees
Talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey appear to be increasingly uphill. A Turkish Foreign Ministry source told CNN that "no meeting is yet planned" between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow said the meeting was scheduled for this morning and then that it was postponed until this afternoon. The source gave the following information about who is in Turkey: the Russian delegation is in Istanbul; some US officials are also in Istanbul. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the other hand, is in Ankara and will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while the NATO foreign ministers' meeting is taking place in Antalya.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who did not go to Turkey, insulted Ukrainian President Zelensky. "Many are now agitating for the Istanbul meeting. Initially, Zelensky said he wanted Putin to come in person. Well, what a pathetic person. It is clear to everyone, except, probably, to himself and those who are manipulating him," Lavrov said according to Ria Novosti. Then about the negotiations Lavrov says 'We should give the negotiations a chance, but there is no guarantee that everything will go smoothly and without problems'.
| 15 May 2025
Fidan sees the Russian delegation in Istanbul tonight
The Turkish Foreign Minister,Hakan Fidan, is scheduled to meet this evening with the Russian delegation, led by Vladimir Medinskiy, who have arrived in Istanbul for talks with Ukrainian officials, at the Dolmabahce Palace. This was stated by Ankara Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli, as reported by Anadolu.
| 15 May 2025
Meloni with Merz, Macron and Zelensky at Tirana summit. The focus will be on Ukraine
Tomorrow Tirana will host the sixth meeting of the European Political Community, a platform where European leaders will gather in the capital of Albania to discuss the theme 'A new Europe in a new world: unity, cooperation, joint action'.
Among others, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, European Council President António Costa, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to attend.
The summit - Italian government sources explain - will also represent an important opportunity for reflection and discussion on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, also in the light of the peace talks held today in Turkey.
Established in 2022 at the behest of French President Emmanuel Macron in the very aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Political Community brings together 47 European countries (the 27 EU member states and 20 non-EU countries) with the aim of promoting a forum for informal dialogue between heads of state and government on the main dossiers on the international agenda.
In addition to the EU Member States, the EPC includes the countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia; the United Kingdom and Turkey; the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland; the Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and the European micro-states Andorra, Monaco and San Marino.
The European Union will be represented by the President of the European Council, António Costa, who will co-chair the proceedings together with the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, will also speak. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, and the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, are also expected to attend.
In the plenary session, dedicated to the central theme 'A New Europe in a New World: Unity - Cooperation - Joint Action', speakers included leaders Meloni, Rama, Costa, von der Leyen, Zelensky, Erdogan, Merz, Starmer and Macron.
A number of thematic round tables will also be held in parallel: two dedicated to security issues, one to competitiveness and economic security, and one to migration issues, in which Prime Minister Meloni will also take part. The round table, co-chaired by Croatia and Kosovo, entitled 'An Open Europe with Secure Borders: Addressing Mobility Challenges and Fostering Youth Empowerment' will address the issue of managing irregular immigration to Europe, combating demographic decline and the so-called 'brain drain'.
On the occasion of the summit,' the Italian sources add, 'the Moldova Core-group, a restricted format dedicated to the wide-ranging support of the nation's security, will also meet. Its members are Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, the EU, the US and the UK. This is the third meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government. Italy took part in the last meeting in Budapest on 7 November last year, within the framework of the EPC.
Volodymyr Zelensky
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| 15 May 2025
Russian delegation: ready for possible compromises
The Russian delegation to the direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul is also ready to discuss "possible compromises," said the head of the Russian negotiators, Vladimir Medinsky, quoted by the Tass news agency. "We are ready to discuss and resume the course of the Istanbul negotiations, ready for possible compromises and to discuss them," Medinsky stressed.r Zelensky, said that the US and Turkey would be mediators in the negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. During a press conference in Ankara, broadcast by Trt, Zelensky added that the Istanbul negotiations could be held tonight or tomorrow, stressing that a 30-day 'unconditional ceasefire' would be the main demand of the Ukrainian delegation.
Il capo delegazione della Russia Vladimir Medinsky (al centro) parla con i media al consolato russo di Istanbul EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU
| 15 May 2025
Zelensky will not go to Istanbul
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not attend the Istanbul talks but will send a delegation to meet with the Russians. An official from Ukraine tells Afp.
| 15 May 2025
Trump, nothing will happen until Putin and I meet
- "Nothing will happen until Putin and I meet." Donald Trump said this on board Air Force One, according to Bloomberg news agency. The president said he was "not disappointed with the Russian delegation" in Turkey, but admitted he knew nothing about it.
| 15 May 2025
Exchange of insults between Zelensky and Moscow
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in Ankara, said that the Ukrainian delegation "is at the highest level" and instead called the Russian one "decorative", which "looks more like a farce, a theatrical staging, than serious". "We will decide on the steps to be taken after the meeting with (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan," the Ukrainian leader added. As for the meeting with Erdogan, "I think we should expect a just solution", adding that his side "is trying to be constructive". This was reported by international media.
'A clown, a failure a person of unknown education'. This is how Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in response to his words that the Russian delegation to the Istanbul negotiations is 'a farce'.
The day of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Turkey does not start under the best auspices.
Russia's position on a possible peace agreement with Ukraine has changed and reflects the changes on the fronts where Russia has advanced, Zakharova said.
Asked by Reuters whether Russia's position had changed since June 2024, when President Vladimir Putin declared that Ukraine must officially abandon its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entire territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia, Zakharova replied: 'Yes, there are these changes in the Russian position.
"These changes are reflected in the changes in the field," he said.
Zakharova quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying in 2024 that Ukraine was shrinking territorially more and more each time it moved away from talks with Russia.
Russia currently controls just under a fifth of Ukraine and claims that the territory is now formally part of Russia, a position that Ukraine and Western Europe do not accept.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. According to Russian estimates, Russian forces control almost all of Luhansk and over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. Russia also controls part of the Kharkiv region.
| 15 May 2025
Estonia, Russian fighter jet over Nato territory for almost a minute
A Russian fighter plane violated Nato territory for almost a minute while attempting to control a UK-sanctioned ship, which Estonia was trying to detain, the Eastern European country's foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said, as reported by Sky News Uk. After the oil tanker Jaguar, which was bound for Russia and placed on the UK sanctions list, refused to cooperate with a boarding attempt, the Estonian navy said the vessel was escorted into Russian waters. The vessel had been accused of sailing illegally without a flag. "The Russian Federation sent a fighter plane to verify the situation and this fighter plane violated Nato territory for almost a minute," Tsahkna said in Antalya, during the Nato foreign ministers' meeting.
| 15 May 2025
Moscow, negotiations postponed to afternoon at Turkish request
The start of direct talks in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian delegations was postponed until the afternoon at the Turkish request, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, quoted by Tass.
Uncertainty over negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is casting a shadow over the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Antalya, which began Wednesday evening. The meetings in Antalya between Rubio and European foreign ministers would provide an opportunity for an alignment on Ukraine, after European leaders issued an ultimatum last weekend giving Russia until 12 May to agree to a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
European leaders had said they had US support for coordinated sanctions against Russia if Moscow continued to strike Ukraine. But US President Donald Trump has not publicly endorsed the proposed ceasefire date, and the deadline has come and gone without either side stopping the fighting.
"It is clear that Russia is only sending a lower-level delegation to Turkey for these peace talks," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters before the start of the second day of meetings in Antalya. "I continue to be moderately optimistic that if the Russians are also willing to cooperate, some progress could be achieved in the next two weeks."
In talks between US and European officials earlier this week, as Bloomberg reports, the US side did not make it clear whether it was still prepared to impose sanctions on Russia if the attacks continued, nor what it would do if Putin refused to meet with Zelenskiy and end the fighting.
| 15 May 2025
Zelensky left for Ankara
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took off for Ankara, where he is scheduled to meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogdan.
| 15 May 2025
Trump: I may join negotiations on Friday
US President Donald Trump said today that he would be willing to join the Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey on Friday "if it is appropriate". Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Doha, Trump reiterated his readiness to contribute to a diplomatic solution to the conflict, should circumstances make it possible.
| 15 May 2025
Kiev proposes 30-day truce
Ukrainian broadcaster Suspline reports that a source present at the proposed peace talks in Istanbul said that the Ukrainian delegation is ready to discuss the issue of a 30-day ceasefire. At the moment, the composition of the Kiev delegation remains unknown.
"I met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Senator Lindsey Graham in Antalya, Turkey. We discussed in detail the logic of the next steps and shared our views'. Thus on X Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha.c
Andrii Sybiha. EPA/MYKOLA TYS
| 15 May 2025
Peskov: meeting with Putin last night
The negotiations between Russia and Ukraine scheduled to start at 10am local time in Instabul will take place behind closed doors. Tass reports this, citing sources close to the dossier. "Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting to discuss the modalities of the talks with Ukraine, which will be held today in Istanbul. This was stated to journalists today by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
| 15 May 2025
Lithuania: Ukraine in NATO
"NATO membership is the best option to protect not only Ukraine, but also Europe. Therefore, we want it to be reconfirmed, as it was done before, and reaffirmed as it was done at the summit in Washington".
This was said by the Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Kestutis Budrys, upon his arrival at the NATO Foreign Ministerial in Antalya, Turkey.
| 15 May 2025
Erdogan will see Zelensky
The agenda of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not include any meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian delegations engaged in today's talks in Ankara, but he will receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Turkish presidency office announced. A senior Ukrainian official told Afp. after Russian state media reported that the Russian delegation had landed in Istanbul for the talks.
