Trump says there will be no progress on the war in Ukraine until he meets with Putin.

"Nothing's going to happen until Putin and I meet, okay?" the US president declared.

Donald Trump suggested Thursday that there will be no progress in potential talks in Turkey today between Russia and Ukraine to find a solution to the war until he and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin , meet in person.

"Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I meet , okay?" the US president said when asked by a reporter on Air Force One.

"I'm not disappointed at all (...) Why would I be?" he asserted, adding that he "didn't even check" who would lead the Russian delegation to Turkey.

In this regard, he asserted that Putin would "obviously" attend the meeting if Trump himself showed up: "He wouldn't go if I didn't go ," he stated.

In doing so, the US president suggested that he will not attend these talks , which are expected to begin this afternoon.

"I don't think anything will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we'll have to organize it because too many people are dying ," he concluded.

Russia and the United States have already prepared their delegations to participate in direct negotiations with Ukrainian authorities in Istanbul to seek a negotiated solution to the war caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Turkish government announced Thursday.

Ankara has not confirmed the participation of Turkish mediators in the Russian-Ukrainian meeting, the first since 2022, which is scheduled to begin this afternoon in Istanbul.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Ankara, where he has been meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan , since midday. He is expected to report on Ukraine's participation in the meeting scheduled for Istanbul.

On the other hand, the Kremlin confirmed that Putin has no plans to travel to Istanbul , but his possible trip to Turkey will depend on the outcome of those contacts.