Two envoys of United States President Donald Trump are to travel to Istanbul for the scheduled talks between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reported.

According to reports, Steve Whitcoff and Keith Kellogg will be in Turkey on Thursday to participate in the negotiations, which are expected to be particularly interesting given the regional tensions.

While it remains unclear whether the US president will attend the talks, he has not ruled out the possibility of attending.

Kremlin’s silence on Putin’s presence

Russia will announce who will take part in proposed peace talks in Turkey to end the war in Ukraine when President Vladimir Putin sees fit, the Kremlin said today, refusing to say at this stage whether Putin himself will take part in those talks.

Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine on Sunday, and after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept them, Zelensky said he would go, but also that the Russian president himself should participate in them.

When asked who would represent Russia at the talks, Peskov said: “As soon as the president deems it appropriate, we will announce it.”

Kyiv, for its part, said today that the Russian president’s possible absence from the talks scheduled for Thursday in Istanbul would be the “last signal” that Moscow does not want to stop the war.