Rubio Skeptical About Progress in Ukraine Peace Talks Without Trump and Putin

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has voiced skepticism about the prospects for progress at the upcoming peace talks in Turkey, following confirmation that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will not be in attendance. The discussions, initially scheduled for Thursday, were thrown into uncertainty as delegations from Russia and Ukraine, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, arrived in different Turkish cities only to discover that top Kremlin officials would also be absent.

Disarray marked the day, with mediators and participants left questioning whether a meeting would even take place before the event was ultimately postponed to Friday. Frustration mounted among the delegations as they awaited clarity on the timing and structure of the talks.

Rubio, addressing reporters ahead of the rescheduled meeting, delivered a blunt assessment:

"Frankly, at this point, I think it's abundantly clear that the only way we're going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin," Rubio said. "It's going to require that level of engagement to have a breakthrough in this matter. I don't think anything productive is actually going to happen from this point forward… until they engage in a very frank and direct conversation, which I know President Trump is willing to do."

The origins of the talks stem from a proposal last week by President Putin, who suggested direct negotiations with Ukraine aimed at ending the ongoing conflict. President Zelenskyy agreed, insisting that any real progress would depend on the leaders themselves coming to the table.

Earlier this week, President Trump had alluded to possibly traveling to Turkey from the UAE if tangible headway was made on Thursday. However, there had been no definitive plans for him to attend the negotiations, as he concluded his Middle East tour.

On Thursday, the Kremlin formally confirmed that Putin would abstain from participating in the discussions. Meanwhile, President Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One, disclosed that Putin's absence might have been due to scheduling miscommunication.

"Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together. OK?" Trump asserted. "He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn't going if I wasn't there. I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together."

As of now, there are no announced plans for a face-to-face between Trump and Putin. Rubio reinforced the idea that meaningful progress hinges on such a meeting:

"What I can say with certainty is that the president's… willing to stick with [this] as long as it takes to achieve peace. What we cannot do, however, is continue to fly all over the world and engage in meetings that are not going to be productive. The only way we're going to have a breakthrough here is with President Trump sitting face to face with President Putin and determining once and for all whether there's a path to peace."

Exasperation was evident from the Ukrainian side as well. Following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Zelenskyy criticized Putin’s absence and the lack of seriousness shown by the Russian delegation:

"No time of the meeting, no agenda, no high-level of delegation – this is personal disrespect to Erdoğan, to Trump," Zelenskyy said during a Thursday news conference.

With the key players conspicuously missing from the negotiation table, hopes for a breakthrough in the peace process appear slim until direct talks can be arranged between the Russian and U.S. presidents.