President Donald Trump says he is skipping Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul this week and downplayed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision not to attend.

For days, President Donald Trump repeatedly floated the possibility of scrapping his Middle East travel schedule — one his team meticulously crafted for weeks — and adding a stop to personally mediate Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Turkey.

President Donald Trump offered another glimpse of an emerging, sometimes contradictory foreign policy doctrine: trying to end various conflicts around the globe while vowing not to withdraw from the world entirely.

By Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Steve Holland and Lidia Kelly MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's offer to join proposed Ukraine-Russia peace talks triggered a flurry of diplomacy as powers from Europe to the Middle East sought a possible path out of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

"Of course, all of us in Ukraine would like President Trump to be there with us - at this meeting in Turkey," Zelensky said in response. "This is the right idea."

President Donald Trump stopped at al-Udeid Air Base — an important hub for the U.S. military in recent decades — before heading to Abu Dhabi.

President Trump often takes maximalist positions, only to back down and declare a win. His opponents are catching on.

Donald Trump has suggested he could join Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Turkey this week if the two leaders meet for peace talks there.“I've got so many meetings,