RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent him at Russia-Ukraine peace talks expected to take place Thursday in Istanbul — after suggesting he might go himself to try to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Trump announced that America’s top diplomat would make the trip during a speech to Saudi leaders and businessmen on the first day of his three-country tour of the Middle East.
“Talks are being held in Turkey later this week — probably on Thursday, and they could produce some pretty good results. Our people are going to be going there, Marco is going to be going there, others are going to be going, and we’ll see if we can get it done,” Trump said.
The president gave no further indication that he too would join the meeting — a prospect that would be extremely challenging due to the short window of time available for security and logistical planning.
On Monday, Trump told reporters at the White House that “I would fly there if I thought it would be helpful,” but there were no indications late Tuesday that preparations were being made for a side trip to Turkey.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to attend the talks after Trump pressured him to do so — though it’s unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend, as Trump predicted would happen.
Trump said Tuesday that he wanted to achieve peace because of the toll of the conflict on “young, beautiful souls that left their parents, waving goodbye to their brothers and sisters. ‘Goodbye. I’ll see you soon’, and they got blown to pieces.”
