He should talk. And Putin never said he would attend these peace negotiations.
Zelensky and his supporters in the EU and the US have been living a in their own little self created media bubble of irrational unreality.
They are getting high on their own supply both figuratively and literally if recent photos of Macron, Merz and Starmer are taken into account. Is it even possible that this war is being driven and fuled by a group of coke heads who are too high to even realize where their actions are taking the world and where this is heading?
It's probably not very realistic to expect Putin to show up in Turkey when Zelenskyy just tried to assassinate Putin and other world leaders with drone strike on Moscow's 80 year anniversary of the end of WWII.
The representatives the Russia are sending to this meeting is sending a message in and of itself and this message is either being missed, ignored or suppressed by the media.
Putin has sent one of his close personal aides and his Defense Minister to Turkey to engage with Zelensky, not his Diplomats ( or what passes for diplomats where Russia is concerned)
My take - the Russians are through with talks.
The EU and American politicians who have been supporting Zelensky along with the New York Times, their paper of record, have been bragging about how they are negotiating in bad faith to stall the Russian and out last President Trump so a new Democrat ( or Uni Party Republican) Biden II administration can open the check books and the weapons pipelines to re ignite the war.
The Russians need to end this before the EU and the US has time to rebuild and mobilize their weapons manufacturing capability and a new administration of war mongers enters the White House.
Putin's personal aide is there to send a personal message. That message will go something like this
“You reneged on the deal we agreed to three years ago and look at where it has gotten you.
These are our terms for an updated version of the agreement that you agreed to and then reneged on that reflects the circumstances that have transpired over the last three years and the reality of the dire military situation that the Ukraine faces on the ground.
The time for your grand standing, game playing and childish name calling and photo ops is over. We are not here to entertain sham negotiations, we are here to offer an ultimatum. This is our last, best and final offer to settle the war peacefully - take it or leave it. “
The Russian Defense Minister's message could be something like this -
“We have been massing the troops and weapons to force a military solution to the problem but we have been told to hold back in hopes of a negotiated solution. If you do not accept Putin's ultimatum we are going to immediately move to end this militarily” I am not optimistic of a positive outcome on this one.
The saddest thing about this situation is that I seriously doubt that Zelensky represents the wishes of the majority of the Ukrainian people but they are going to be the ones who suffer and are going to be the ones who have to live with the consequences of this war, not the war mongers driving this disaster