RUSSIA and Ukraine traded insults on Thursday as negotiators were due to meet in Turkey for the first direct peace talks in more than three years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Russia for sending a “dummy” delegation, as he touched down in Ankara for a meeting with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Russian officials, for their part, called Zelensky “pathetic” and a “clown”.
The exchange of personal barbs undermines the chances of any breakthrough at the talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending, despite days of international pressure.
Instead Russia’s negotiating team, which touched down in Istanbul on Thursday morning, is led by a hardline historian and Kremlin aide who has denied Ukraine’s right to exist.
“We need to understand the level of the Russian delegation and what their mandate is, if they are capable of making any decisions themselves,” Zelensky said from the tarmac at Ankara airport.
“From what we see, it looks more like a dummy,” he added.
US President Donald Trump said he was keeping open the possibility of travelling to Turkey on Friday if there was any meaningful progress.
But the absence of Putin — as well as any top diplomats such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov or foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov — would seem to diminish the talks’ importance or any possibility of a breakthrough.
Russia said the negotiations would take place in the “second half of the day”, while Zelensky said he would decide on his approach only after he meets Erdogan.
Hundreds of journalists were gathered at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, where the talks are rumoured to be taking place, AFP reporters saw.
Tens of thousands have been killed since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and Russia now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova hit back at Zelensky’s criticism of Moscow’s delegation almost immediately.
Speaking at a briefing in Moscow, she called him a “dummy”, a “clown” and a “loser”.
Lavrov called Zelensky “pathetic” for trying to persuade Putin to turn up in person.