The level of the Russian delegation is sham — Zelenskyy

"First of all, I want to thank President Erdogan for organizing the meeting, for the opportunity for direct negotiations here in Ankara," Zelenskyy said.

The President confirmed that he would first meet with President Erdogan and the entire broad Turkish delegation. He also expressed hope that the US delegation, like Ukraine, would also be represented at a high level at the negotiations.

But the level of the Russians is not officially known to me yet. But from what we see, it looks more like a sham level. We will think about what we will do and what our next steps will be after the conversation with President Erdogan. I think we will have a few hours for an important conversation, very important decisions. We must understand what level the Russian delegation is and what their mandate is, whether they are able to make something themselves. Because we all know who in Russia makes the decisions.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

President of Ukraine

Earlier, Putin's press secretary Peskov said that the illegitimate Russian president would not come to Turkey for negotiations with Ukraine.