Zelensky vows to do everything to ensure direct talks with Putin in Turkey

Russia has not yet said who it will send to Istanbul on Thursday and has refused to respond to ultimatums.

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"We will do everything to ensure that this meeting takes place," he told reporters in a hastily-arranged briefing in Kyiv.

Russia has not yet said who will fly to Istanbul, only that it would be announced "as soon as [Putin] deems it necessary". Putin and Zelensky have not themselves met since December 2019.

Direct talks between the two countries last took place in Istanbul, in March 2022, in the early weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Putin had initially called for direct talks in Turkey's largest city "without pre-conditions", before Zelensky announced that he would go in person and expected the Russian president to travel as well.