Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 13 May 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/STRINGER

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that any forthcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin in Istanbul must lead to tangible outcomes, naming a full prisoner exchange and a ceasefire as key priorities in an interview with the French newspaper Libération on Tuesday.

“We must come out of the meeting with a political victory — a ceasefire, a complete exchange of all prisoners, or something along those lines,” Zelensky said, adding that the US could play the role of a neutral intermediary in the negotiations as “Russia won’t trust us, and we won’t trust Russia”.

Zelensky reiterated his readiness to meet with Putin, who has not announced he would be attending the talks despite proposing direct talks with Kyiv in Istanbul in a nightly address on Sunday. “If Putin doesn’t come, it will look like a total defeat for him,” Zelensky asserted, adding that the presence of US President Donald Trump might compel Putin to attend the talks in person.

Zelensky’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Tuesday that Zelensky would only talk with Putin, as other Russian officials would not be authorised to make decisions on ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has remained non-committal about whether Putin would attend the talks, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying on Wednesday that Moscow “would not make public the members of the Russian delegation to Istanbul” for now, but would “absolutely” be expecting Ukrainian representatives to attend the negotiations.

The US is also preparing to send a high-level delegation to Türkiye, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, who said on Tuesday that Trump would join the talks in person only if Putin did the same.