Ukrainians and Russians Are in Turkey but Will They Meet?

Ukrainian and Russian delegations arrived in Turkey before a possible round of talks to end the war between the countries but from the start, there was confusion over whether they would even meet.

On Thursday morning, reporters gathered outside Dolmabahce, an Ottoman palace on the Bosporus, where talks between Ukraine and Russia took place in March 2022. Tass, a Russian state news agency, had reported that Thursday’s talks would take place there, citing an anonymous source.

But as television reporters from around the world jostled for space on the sidewalk near the palace in Istanbul to do their stand-ups, no one seemed to know whether the negotiations would take place — or whether there was even a Ukrainian delegation in the same city.

The potential talks have been guided by gamesmanship ever since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia first proposed negotiations in Turkey. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine personally took up the offer, saying he would join. President Trump said he too might go if Mr. Putin did.

But, late on Wednesday, it seemed that Mr. Putin of Russia would not attend, when his name did not appear on a list of officials who would be present.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was also unlikely to join, as he and the country’s foreign minister were expected to be in Ankara, for another meeting scheduled with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.