Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 14 put an end to speculation that he would participate in direct negotiations with Ukrainian leaders this week in Turkey by signing an order on the composition of the team of Russian negotiators and experts who will take up the task.

A statement from the Kremlin said Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, who took part in the last talks held between the two sides in the weeks following Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022, will be among the negotiators. The delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin who previously served as culture minister,according to the statement.

Igor Kostyukov, director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the GRU, Russia's Foreign Military Intelligence Agency, is also named as a negotiator.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has left for Turkey, according to a senior Ukrainian official quoted by Reuters, had said he was prepared to meet Putin face-to-face after the Russian leader called for direct talks. Zelenskyy has said he would only meet the Russian leader, not a delegation of officials from Moscow.

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The talks are aimed at moving toward a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II. US President Donald Trump offered earlier to make stop in Turkey during his current trip to the Middle East if it would persuade Putin to show up.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Saudi Arabia to Qatar on May 14 that he didn't know whether Putin would attend if he did not.

"I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that," he added.

A US official was quoted later on May 14 as saying that Trump will not attend.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on May 14 that Moscow would announce the makeup of its delegation as soon as Putin "gave the order" and that a Russian delegation would be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul.

Zelenskyy is scheduled to hold talks with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, but has said that, if Putin decides to go and travels to Istanbul, they could meet there.

Russian independent political scientist Natalia Shavshukova told Current Time that Putin's real motivation is to meet the US president.

"Putin's only interest is a direct meeting with Trump... And Ukraine has become an excuse for the two leaders to meet," Shavshukova said, adding Putin doesn't appear interested in making a peace deal with Ukraine at the moment.

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In an interview to Le Monde, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, said that if Putin is missing in Turkey on May 15, it will signal that "Moscow does not want peace and is not ready for serious negotiations."

"We don't trust Russia.... But we want to end this conflict, and we are ready to accept any negotiation format," Yermak told Le Monde.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has already arrived in Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, where NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will chair an informal meeting of foreign ministers from the military alliance.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in Turkey for the meeting, along with senior US envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, who are expected to join him in Istanbul.

Earlier on May 15, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Sybiha had asked his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.

Ill try to talk to Putin, Lula told a news conference during a visit to China, saying he could stop in Moscow if needed.

It costs me nothing to say: 'Hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate,' he said.

Last week, Trump demanded that Ukraine should "immediately" hold direct talks with Russia to end the war, ignoring Kyiv's call for a cease-fire before any negotiations.

Trump had vowed to end the war in his first 24 hours back in the White House. But the goal has proved elusive since he was sworn in on January 20.