Silence is Dangerous – Putin and Trump Quiet as Zelenskyy Brags and Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Turkey End After Less than One Hour

Sundance reporting for CTH 

President Trump has not made any statement after Ukraine launched an attack yesterday deep into Russia targeting long-range nuclear capable bombers.  Russian President Vladimir Putin has also remained quiet throughout the day today.  However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, publicly bragged about the operation today.

According to Turkish officials (note silence from Russia & Ukraine), the previously scheduled meeting between Russian and Ukranian negotiators ended today after less than an hour.  There are no details about what took place inside the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, just that once the meeting attendees were seated and gave initial remarks, the event dissolved.  Both the Russian and Ukrainian teams left the building.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared full of nervous energy as she spoke to journalists outside the White House, noting that President Trump was in meetings and discussions all day while taking phone calls.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have also remained silent.

Inside Russia the general sense is one of preparation.  As I noted in my debrief from last year, the government of Russia has been preparing the Russian people for an expanded escalation of the conflict for quite some time.  The Russian media are deliberately pointing to Ukraine -and only Ukraine- in their domestic reporting of the attacks.  There is no mention within Russian media of EU, NATO or USA support for the events that took place Sunday; however, there were a few mentions of Great Britain as a likely assistant to the attacks.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ended barely an hour after they began in Istanbul on Monday, Turkish officials said, a day after a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers.

The talks – the second such direct contacts between the sides since 2022 – had already begun nearly two hours later than scheduled with no explanation of the delay.

[…] Ukraine and Russia have issued starkly different assessments of the damage done to Russia’s fleet of nuclear-capable bombers – a key element in its nuclear arsenal – but it was clear from publicly available satellite imagery that Moscow had suffered some serious equipment losses.

[…] The two sides had been expected to discuss their respective and wildly different ideas for what a full ceasefire and a longer term path to peace should look like amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said the U.S. could abandon its role as a mediator if there is no progress. (read more)