WASHINGTON, May 13. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials will be present at Thursday's Istanbul talks on Ukraine, US President Donald Trump said.
"Marco [Rubio] is going to be going there, others are going to be going, and we'll see if we can get it done," he told a bilateral investment forum in Saudi Arabia, aired by US broadcasters.
Trump was optimistic when talking about the meetings in Turkey.
"Very importantly, talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could produce some pretty good results," the US leader said, without elaborating.
A White House spokesperson told reporters that Rubio will be accompanied by the US president’s special envoys, Steven WItkoff and Keith Kellogg.
Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin in the early hours of May 11, Putin urged Kiev to resume direct talks suspended in 2022, without preconditions. The plan is to start dialogue in Istanbul on May 15. Putin also recalled that Russia had declared multiple ceasefires that Kiev consistently broke, including a recent truce during the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Vladimir Zelensky, in turn, announced plans to travel to Istanbul on Thursday. The statement came after Trump urged Ukraine to immediately accept Putin’s offer for talks. Prior to that, Zelensky had insisted that a 30-day ceasefire should precede any negotiations with Moscow.