Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he’d travel to Turkey this week for peace talks with Moscow, and he challenged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet with him personally. “There is no point in prolonging the killings,” Zelensky wrote on X. “And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday.”

The president said he's optimistic about Thursday's expected talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday challenged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet him personally in Turkey on Thursday, the latest move in a weekend-long exchange of proposals from both sides on the next steps in the US-led peace effort.