Doing so would require the Russian leader to “accept the failure of sitting down with a president he considers a joke from a country that doesn’t exist”

Speculation is rising over a possible Zelensky–Putin showdown in Turkey, after reports that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached out directly to the Kremlin while appearing to sideline Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Geneva, Istanbul and Budapest have been put forward as potential locations - but bilateral talks still remain a long way off.