President Volodymyr Zelensky's willingness to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Istanbul sparked a question over whether such a move contradicts his earlier decree.

Russia has called for direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul, but Ukraine’s European allies say Putin needs to agree to a ceasefire first.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he’d travel to Turkey this week for peace talks with Moscow, and he challenged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet with him personally. “There is no point in prolonging the killings,” Zelensky wrote on X. “And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday.”