Ukraine war briefing: Putin stays home and fires a general instead of peace talks

Vladimir Putin has sacked the chief of the Russian military’s land forces, Gen. Oleg Salyukov, according to a decree published by the Kremlin, in the latest removal of a high-profile figure from Russia’s military during its war on Ukraine. Salyukov, 70, will become a deputy to the also-sacked defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who was removed in 2024 and made secretary of the security council.

The development came as the Russian president snubbed peace talks that he suggested in Turkey with Ukraine. Putin instead sent a lower-level delegation to Istanbul, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who had promised to attend if Putin did – reciprocated with a Ukrainian negotiating contingent. Putin had insisted on the Istanbul meeting instead of agreeing to the longstanding offer by Ukraine and its allies of a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said Putin and Russia would face new sanctions as a consequence. “The fact that President Zelenskyy travelled to Istanbul despite this is an enormous gesture,” Merz posted. “Putin didn’t show up – and that put him in the wrong. A new sanctions package is ready. We will adopt it in Brussels on Tuesday.”

UK prime minister Keir Starmer accused Putin of stymying progress on peace. “There was only one country that started this conflict – that was Russia. That was Putin,” he said, speaking in Albania. “There’s only one country now standing in the way of peace – that is Russia. That is Putin.” There’s only one country now standing in the way of peace – that is Russia. That is Putin.”

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, echoed that sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians, there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. Putin “is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.”

Due to Putin’s no-show , it appeared that any talks taking place would only begin in earnest on Friday, under Turkey’s supervision. Zelenskyy on Thursday arrived in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, for separate meetings, having said he would meet Putin in Istanbul if the Russian president arrived.

Late on Thursday, Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, met the Russian delegation. “The meeting has ended. Tomorrow there will be more talks in different formats,” said a Turkish foreign ministry source, indicating that “trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are on the agenda”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Thursday: “I want to be frank. I don’t think we have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.” The top US diplomat described the current state of the talks to end the war as a “logjam” that only Donald Trump could break.

Trump, the US president, offered a tangled version of events: “Obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Trump said of Putin. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there.” He told reporters on Air Force One: “I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together.”

Estonia accused Russia on Thursday of posing a “serious threat” to Nato after a Russian fighter jet violated its airspace. Estonia said it detected the incursion on Tuesday while it was inspecting a tanker from the “shadow fleet” of ships that Russia is using to skirt sanctions. The Estonian foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, told a Nato meeting in Turkey that Estonia was inspecting “the unflagged and uninsured Argent/Jaguar [tanker], which is sanctioned by the United Kingdom”, when the Russian plane violated Estonia’s airspace. Nato fighter jets scrambled to “inspect and check the Russian fighter”.