Ukrainian President Arrives in Turkish Capital for Erdoğan Talks

A plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board landed at Ankara Airport in Turkey on Thursday. 

The Gaze reports on this with reference to a video of Zelenskyy's arrival broadcast by Suspilne.

In a brief commentary, the president said he would begin his visit by meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "with the entire broad delegation of Turkey". 

He added that the Ukrainian side is in contact with the American side and noted that "I think they will also be in Turkey at a high level".

Commenting on the composition of the Russian delegation, the president said: "The level of the Russians is not yet officially known to me, but from what we see, it looks more like a prop level." 

Zelenskyy noted that a decision on further steps in the negotiations would be made after a conversation with President Erdogan. 

"I think we will have a few hours for an important conversation, important, very important decisions. We need to understand the level of the Russian delegation, what their mandate is, whether they are able to make any decisions on their own. Because we all know who makes decisions in Russia," Zelenskyy said.

At the same time, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul are scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Earlier, Zelenskyy said he was ready to come to Istanbul if Putin arrived there.

As The Gaze reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for direct talks with Ukraine to take place in Istanbul on May 15, emphasising Moscow's readiness to resume dialogue without setting any preconditions.