Ukraine peace talks in Turkey threaten to descend into farce

Moscow [Russia], May 16: Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine failed to start as planned on Thursday after the two presidents did not turn up and barbs were traded from afar.
Hopes for an end to the over three-year war looked forlorn as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he will not take part in the Istanbul talks, which now look set to begin on Friday if at all.
Zelensky had demanded that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin be present at the negotiations in Turkey's biggest city and labelled Moscow's negotiating team as second rate.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also not in Istanbul, referred to Zelensky as a "pathetic fellow," according to the Russian state-run news agency TASS, as rancour threatened to override any meaningful progress.
Even US President Donald Trump was far from optimistic.
"Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together, OK?" he told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates.
Trump had said he could dash to Turkey if talks were going well, but that now seems highly unlikely.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected criticism that Moscow has only sent a second-tier delegation. The most qualified experts have been dispatched to Turkey, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to TASS.
These experts, she said, are prepared and competent to discuss all topics. "International law, certainly. The situation on the ground, certainly. Questions of combat operations, certainly," she explained.
It remains unclear whether and when the first direct talks between Ukrainians and Russians in three years will take place. The Russian delegation is at the hotel, waiting for developments, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, which cited an unnamed source.
TASS, also citing an anonymous source, reported that negotiations would not begin until Friday.
The Ukrainian delegation will remain in the city until Friday, Zelensky said.
The Russian delegation's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, is considered by the West as a political lightweight and was also involved in the fruitless negotiations in 2022 shortly after the war began.
Putin had proposed direct negotiations himself, but the Kremlin confirmed late on Wednesday that he would be sending Medinsky instead.
The talks in Istanbul were expected to begin in the morning Istanbul time, but were initially postponed to the afternoon. No negotiations had occurred by the evening.
Zakharova said that "the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations were postponed to the second half of the day on the initiative of the Turkish side." Zelensky had previously confirmed his intention to travel to Turkey personally to meet Putin, arguing that he would not negotiate with any other figure.
Trump previously said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be in Turkey.
Source: Qatar Tribune