Star Metro - Putin skipping talks would signal Moscow not seeking peace: Kyiv

The meeting set for Thursday in Istanbul would be the first direct negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials since the early months of Moscow's invasion in 2022.

Zelensky has called on Putin to personally attend the talks that the Kremlin leader himself suggested, but Moscow on Tuesday declined for the second day running to respond to that invitation.

"If Vladimir Putin refuses to come to Turkey, it will be the final signal that Russia does not want to end this war, that Russia is not willing and not ready for any negotiations," Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a statement published by the Ukrainian presidency.

US President Donald Trump on Monday urged both leaders to attend and said he was "thinking" about going to the talks as well.

But Putin's spokesman on Tuesday refused to say who Russia would send to Istanbul.

"The Russian side continues to prepare for the talks scheduled for Thursday. That is all we can say at this point. We do not intend to comment further at this time," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Asked if he could name Russia's negotiating team, Peskov said: "No... as soon as the president deems it necessary, we will announce it."

Putin proposed negotiations in a late-night statement over the weekend -- a counteroffer after Kyiv and European countries urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while Moscow's army now controls around one-fifth of the country -- including the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.

- Sanctions, military aid -

Russia did not explicitly respond to Ukraine and the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Poland calling for Moscow to agree a 30-day ceasefire from Monday, though the Kremlin blasted European "ultimatums" in an apparent rejection.

Kyiv on Tuesday urged fresh support from its Western backers if Putin refused to talk to Zelensky in Istanbul.

"If Russia refuses to negotiate, there must be a strong response from the United States and the entire world: new sanctions against Russia and increased military aid to Ukraine."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is ready to host and urged the warring sides on Monday to seize the "window of opportunity" to reach a peace settlement.

Trump told reporters on Monday he would attend talks if he "thought it would be helpful".

"I was thinking about actually flying over there. There's a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen," Trump told journalists at the White House prior to departing for a trip to the Middle East.

Putin has said any direct talks with Ukraine should focus on the "root causes" of the conflict, and did not "exclude" a possible ceasefire coming out of any talks in Istanbul.

Russia's references to the "root causes" of the conflict typically refer to alleged grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for its invasion.

They include pledges to "de-Nazify" and de-militarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country's east and push back against NATO expansion.

Kyiv and the West have rejected all of them, saying Russia's invasion is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.

Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul in March 2022 aimed at halting the conflict but did not strike a deal.

Contact between the warring sides has been extremely limited since, mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of killed soldiers' bodies.

D.Ch. Nadeau--SMC