The Lost 27 Hours. Weather Metaphor? Thursday Sunny And Warm; Friday Cloudy And Cool. President Zelensky Added Poison To An Already Poisoned Atmosphere And Disrespected President Erdogan
The Lost 27 Hours
Metaphor? Thursday Sunny, Warm In Istanbul. Friday Cloudy, Cool In Istanbul.
If Egos Get Out Of The Way, Today’s Meeting Could Achieve Results
President Zelensky Disrespected President Erdogan Because He Wanted To Create Pressure Onto President Trump And European Union
Takes Two To Do The Tango, But Only One To Slip And Fall
Yesterday in Ankara, the capital of Turkiye, and in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkiye, were disasters in terms of diplomacy for the government of Russia, Ukraine, United States, and other governments seeking an end to the Russian Federation-Ukraine war.
The host, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye (2014- ), remains blameless. His task was, however, always fraught with peril.
“The Lost Weekend” is a motion picture released in 1945 about an alcoholic and how the disease impacts his decisions and his memory. Its most important message is about time- its use and the consequences of misuse.
Thursday, 15 May 2025, resembled an abbreviated version of that motion picture. The twenty-first century version entitled “The Lost Twenty-Seven Hours” as a Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting expected to commence at 10:00 am would commence the following day at 1:00 pm on Friday, 16 May 2025.
What happened during those twenty-seven hours to move nearer a resolution of the Russian Federation-Ukraine war which in its current incarnation commenced in the early morning of 24 February 2022? Nothing.
The antics of President Zelensky give rise to another question: To whom is an immediate end to the military component of the Russia-Ukraine war more consequential- the government of the Russian Federation or the government of Ukraine? Moscow and Kyiv want the war to end- on their respective terms, which neither is likely to achieve. Thus, the choice becomes which government is prepared to accept more of what it does not want to accept. During the last two days, President Zelensky did nothing to further his goals.
To recap (deep breath required): Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012-2030) proposed a Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting in Turkiye. Donald Trump, 47th President of the United States (2025-2029) responded that Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022), should accept. President Zelensky accepted and added that he would travel to Turkiye to meet with President Putin in either Ankara or Istanbul. President Putin declined the invitation which he never offered in the first place. President Zelensky responded he would not participate unless President Putin participates and may withdraw the Ukraine delegation. All the while reiterating “no offense” to the efforts of President Erdogan although he does visit Ankara on Thursday for a bilateral with President Erdogan after which he travels to Istanbul to participate in a media availability where he insults the Russian Federation delegation as “decorative” and insults the titles of the members of the Russian Federation delegation, but agrees for a delegation of Ukraine to participate in a Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting today, Friday. The script could have originated from Mel Brooks, the legendary actor/director/producer/writer.
President Zelensky did manage a conversation with Gianni Infantino, President of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Andriy Shevchenko, a football player from Ukraine. And rather than remain in Istanbul, President Zelensky traveled to Tirana, Albania, to participate in the summit of the European Political Community.
“He (President Putin) wanted ‘Let’s meet.’ It can’t be like that. We are now in Ankara, just arrived here. After that, we are sending a group to Istanbul. He’s not here, and he’s not in Istanbul. We can’t run around the world looking for the person. Our partners feel Russia’s disrespect. That’s my view… Out of respect for President Trump, the high level of the Turkish delegation, and President Erdogan, and since we want to try to achieve at least the first steps toward de-escalation, an end to the war – namely a ceasefire – I have decided to send our delegation to Istanbul… We need to understand what the level of the Russian delegation is, what their mandate is, and whether they are capable of making decisions on their own.” Volodymyr Zelensky
Talk about poisoning the atmosphere. Granted, the most important result for President Zelensky from the first face-to-face Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting since March 2022 is an agreement to end the war, permanent cease fire, thirty-day cease fire, large-scale prisoner exchange, reunification of families, and confirmed dates, locations, and times for more meetings. Unhelpful is President Zelensky provided a singular mandate to Ukraine delegation: obtain a thirty-day cease fire.
These two days suggest President Zelensky may have deliberately or been encouraged to sabotage the Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting in an effort to place additional pressure upon President Trump to intervene- and then potentially blame President Trump either for failure or for pressure on Ukraine to accept what President Zelensky does not want to accept, rather than risk calmly and professionally accepting the offer of President Putin and awaiting the conclusion of the meeting to come to a conclusion. With a failure by President Trump, then President Zelensky will pivot to demanding assistance (protection) from the twenty-seven-country member European Union (EU) and from individual members of the thirty-two country North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He will also target the thirty-one member countries of the “Coalition of the Willing” to determine just how “willing” they really are to support the government of Ukraine.
President Zelensky should have said he would participate in the Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting regardless of who was in the Russian delegation. What does he do? He insults President Putin, insults the members of the Russian delegation, and he insults President Erdogan by wasting a day- a day when more Ukrainians were killed, injured, and infrastructure damaged throughout Ukraine. All because he did not get what he wanted. Like a child rather than a head of state.
Regardless of the titles of members of the Russian delegation, President Zelensky focused on only that President Putin was the “decision maker” which means President Zelensky must only deal directly with President Putin. Unfortunately, President Zelensky did not want to appreciate that often titles do not necessarily equate with the importance, the influence of a person. And no head of state makes decisions in a vacuum. They seek opinions.
Had President Zelensky participated in the Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting, he might have provided a message- or received a message which could be valuable. Body language can be a message. What is said and what it not said can be a message.
President Zelensky’s participation would have also placed additional optical pressure on President Putin to deliver something defined as consequential. Having President Zelensky making the effort only to be rebuffed for seeking, as an example, another prisoner exchange and expanded family reunifications, would be a plus for President Zelensky and a quite visible minus for President Putin. And, one result would be President Trump’s displeasure with President Putin as the status of children has become an attention-getting focus.
Think about this optic created by President Zelensky: The highest-ranking officials now involved with the setting for the Russian Federation-Ukraine meeting are the United States Secretary of State and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkiye when it should have been President Zelensky and Andrei Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and considered the second-most powerful person in Ukraine. Mr. Yermak is not a minister, by choice, and he is not Chief of Staff (there is one too) so his title does not necessarily reflect accurately his influence. Fortunately, he has remained in Istanbul.
Who is making the effort? Who is winning the optic war? President Zelensky arrived first to Turkiye. He should have taken a victory lap. Through a series of statements, decisions, and movements, he negated the advantage he should have held over President Putin.
Why is today a reason to applaud the government of Ukraine for agreeing to engage directly with representatives of the government of the Russian Federation? A narrative created by far too many which is devoid of reality.
The meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace on Bosphorus is a sign of diplomatic progress between the warring parties. They are in the same place at the same time.
Next up will be defining “progress” which may be, in part from decisions made prior by President Zelensky, defined as having sat in the same place at the same time. Hopefully not.
From Government of Ukraine: “President Volodymyr Zelensky has approved the composition of the delegation for negotiations with representatives of the Republic of Turkey, the United States of America and the Russian Federation, scheduled for May 15-16 in Istanbul. According to Ukrinform, this is stated in Decree No. 306/2025 “On the Delegation of Ukraine to Participate in the Negotiations on Achieving a Just and Sustainable Peace” of May 15, 2025, published on the President's website. According to the decree, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was appointed head of the delegation. The delegation also includes: Serhiy Kyslytsia, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; Oleksandr Poklad, Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine; Oleh Luhovskyi, First Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine; Oleksii Shevchenko - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Skibitskyi Vadym - Deputy Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine; Shynkariov Yevhen - Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Oleksandr Ivanovych Diakov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Malovatskyi Oleksii - Head of the Department of International and Operational Law of the Central Legal Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Sherikhov Oleksandr - Senior Officer of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Kuzmychov Heorhii - Protocol Officer of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Oleksandr Bevz - Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.”
From Government of Russian Federation: “Composition of Russian Federation’s delegation for talks with Ukraine approved. The President signed an Order On the Composition of the Delegation of the Russian Federation for Talks with Ukraine. The composition of the Russian Federation’s delegation for talks with Ukraine is as follows: Vladimir Medinsky, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation (head of the delegation). Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation (member of the delegation). Igor Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Armed Forces (member of the delegation). Alexander Fomin, Deputy Defence Minister of the Russian Federation (member of the delegation). Russia's delegation * Vladimir Medinsky, Kremlin aide. To head the delegation. Born in Soviet Ukraine, Medinsky helped lead the 2022 peace talks which ultimately failed. Educated at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Medinsky was behind a new history textbook for schools which reflects Putin's historical view: pride at the achievements of the superpower Soviet Union, indignation at the humiliations of the Soviet collapse, and acclaim for the "rebirth" of Russia under the former KGB spy's rule which began on the last day of 1999. He is chairman of the ultra-patriotic Russian Military Historical Society. * Mikhail Galuzin, deputy foreign minister- Oversees relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet republics. Educated at Moscow State University's Institute of Asian and African Studies. Speaks fluent Japanese and English. * Igor Kostyukov, director of Russian military intelligence, known as GRU, or more recently as simply GU. The GRU is one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world. Kostyukov was the first naval officer to head GRU. * Alexander Fomin, deputy defence minister. Took part in the 2022 talks on Ukraine. Additionally, Putin approved a list of experts for the negotiations. * Alexander Zorin, first deputy chief of information of the directorate of the General Staff. Born in Soviet Ukraine. Helped lead Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war. Known for seeking to reconcile sides. * Yelena Podobreyevskaya, deputy head of the Kremlin directorate for humanitarian policy. * Alexei Polishchuk, director of the foreign ministry's CIS department dealing with Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. * V. Shevtsov, deputy head of the main directorate for international military cooperation at the defence ministry.”
