Kremlin tight-lipped on whether Putin will meet Zelenskyy

Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday challenged Putin to join peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey. Zelensky said that he would not join the talks with any other Russian official except Volodymyr Putin.

In fact, Putin had said that he would start direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul from May 15 without delay, after which Zelensky said that he would wait for Putin and challenged the Russian President to join the face-to-face talks himself if he is moving forward for peace in the war in the right direction.

If President Putin agrees to join this meeting, it will be the first meeting between the leaders of the two warring countries since December 2019.

However, Russia has not yet clarified whether Putin will travel to Istanbul to attend the potential peace talks or whether someone else could represent Russia.