WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump said he might take a detour during his Mideast trip to visit Turkey for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine that are expected to take place later this week.
“I was thinking about actually flying over there,” Trump told reporters on May 12 at the White House. “There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things could happen.”
Russia and Ukraine agreed to direct talks in the three-year-old war on May 15 in Istanbul. Trump insisted on the meeting and told reporters shortly before he departed that he might attend the Turkey talks, if he thought it it would be helpful.
More: Zelenskyy say he and Putin will meet in direct talks to end Russia’s Ukraine war
Trump said he expects a 30-day suspension of hostilities, which European leaders and Ukraine joined him in pressing for over the weekend, despite Russia’s previous refusals to agree to an unconditional temporary truce.
“I have a feeling they’re going to agree. I do. I have a feeling,” Trump said.
Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to be in Turkey for an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers to take place during the proposed talks between Russia and Ukraine.
“I don’t know where I’m going to be at that particular point. I’ll be someplace in the Middle East, but I would fly there if I thought it would be helpful,” Trump said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed the talks but did not say whether he would come personally or send representatives from his government. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’d personally attend and pushed Putin to do the same.
Trump told reporters he expects leaders from both countries to attend.
Syria sanctions to end?
Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan will be a “great host” for the talks, Trump said, which could also lay the groundwork for an end to United States sanctions on Syria after the December 2024 fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
“We want to give them a fresh start,” Trump said. “We want to see if we can help them out.”
Trump pushes direct talks, Europe readies Russia sanctions
After a May 10 meeting in Kyiv, the leaders of France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Ukraine demanded a comprehensive, 30-day ceasefire starting May 12, with peace talks and a possible “reassurance force” of European peacekeepers.
If Russia does not agree to a ceasefire, they said, tougher sanctions should be adopted, specifically against Russia’s banking and energy sectors, including fossil fuels and its shadow fleet of oil tankers that it uses to avoid sanctions on its exports.
Trump has not publicly committed the United States to higher sanctions on Russia if Putin balks at a ceasefire and he did not say before he left for the Middle East if the Russian president skipping the Istanbul meeting would trigger them.
However, in a Truth Social post on May 11, he said Ukraine should agree to direct talks. “At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!” Trump said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump might travel to Turkey for Russia-Ukraine peace talks
