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U.S. President Donald Trump (right) answers questions from reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Doha, Qatar, on May 14. / Source: AP, Yonhap News

A proposed trilateral summit between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine has collapsed after Putin declined to attend.

Trump and Zelensky both decided not to travel to Istanbul, Türkiye, where peace talks were scheduled for May 15, citing Putin’s absence. According to a U.S. official quoted by Reuters on May 14, President Trump canceled his visit after Putin announced a delegation that did not include himself.

Zelensky had previously stated that he would only participate in the summit if Putin was also present.

Earlier that day, the Kremlin issued a presidential decree confirming Putin had appointed Vladimir Medinsky, a presidential aide, to lead Russia’s delegation to Istanbul. The team includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, and General Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence.

Both Medinsky and Fomin had also participated in the March 29, 2022, peace talks held in Istanbul shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Istanbul talks were initiated by Putin on May 11, and with Trump and Zelensky expressing interest, hopes had briefly risen for a high-level summit. While en route from Saudi Arabia to Qatar during his first overseas trip since taking office, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I don’t know if he [Putin] will attend. He wanted me there, and it’s possible. If I’m not there, I don’t know if he will be. We’ll find out.”

Despite the collapse of the summit, the U.S. will still participate in the peace talks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, will attend negotiations in Istanbul to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

Rubio arrived in Antalya, Türkiye, on May 14 to attend an informal NATO foreign ministers' meeting, where he held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to discuss ending the war and increasing defense spending among Western allies.

Rubio is expected to conclude his NATO meetings on May 15 and join the peace talks in Istanbul on May 16, coordinating with Witkoff and Kellogg. As a result, initial Ukraine-Russia discussions will begin on May 15, with U.S. officials joining the following day.

The framework for the discussions is expected to be based on proposals made by Ukraine during the 2022 Istanbul talks. At the time, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak suggested a 15-year negotiation period regarding the status of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and direct talks between Putin and Zelensky on the Donbas region controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Ukraine also proposed adopting a neutral status, renouncing foreign military bases and troop deployments, and receiving security guarantees from countries like Israel, Türkiye, and France, according to the Washington Post.

Medinsky confirmed at the time that Ukraine had submitted a formal proposal declaring itself a non-aligned, non-nuclear state. The proposal included a ban on all weapons of mass destruction, including biochemical arms, a prohibition on foreign troops and bases in Ukraine, and a requirement for consent from security guarantor countries before conducting military exercises.

Ukraine also suggested dropping efforts to reclaim Crimea by force, excluding the pro-Russian Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) from international security guarantees, and signaling a potential withdrawal of its bid to join the European Union, according to Medinsky.