Russia will wait for Ukraine at 10:00 AM on May 16th for negotiations.
The Russian President's assistant said that the Russian delegation was ready and would wait for the Ukrainian delegation at 10:00 AM on May 16 (Istanbul time) for a meeting.
According to RIA Novosti on May 16, the official representative of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oncü Keçeli, stated that direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on May 16 are not ruled out.
"We can expect this," Keçeli told reporters when asked about the possibility of direct bilateral negotiations.
Earlier, a RIA Novosti source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported that trilateral meetings between delegations from Russia, Ukraine, and Türkiye were planned for May 16 in Istanbul. Negotiations between delegations from the United States, Turkey, and Ukraine were also being planned.
Oncü Keçeli told RIA Novosti that no final decision has yet been made regarding the possibility of holding a four-way meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and delegations from Russia, Ukraine, and the United States to resolve the Ukrainian crisis in Istanbul on May 16.
Earlier, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu, citing sources from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, reported that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the US delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubido, the Russian delegation led by the President's Secretary Vladimir Medinsky, and the Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov would be in Istanbul on May 16.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky told reporters that Russia would wait for the Ukrainian side, which is expected to arrive for the meeting in Istanbul at 10 a.m. on May 16.
"At exactly 10 a.m., we will wait for the Ukrainian side; they will arrive for the meeting," Medinsky said.
Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council and Deputy Assistant to the President, said he expects a meeting between the two leaders, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, in the near future.
"When the time is right, US President Donald Trump will be in the same room as Russian President Vladimir Putin. I expect that to happen in the near future," Gorka noted in an online interview with Politico.
