Erdogan presents himself as an intermediary, Zelenskyy indicates that Russia would not be invited to the first meeting.
Turkey is ready to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul.
After their meeting on Friday, Erdogan, who has balanced relations with Moscow and kyiv during the two years of war, spoke of “opportunities that Turkey can provide with its stance.”
“As we continue our solidarity with Ukraine, we will continue our work to end the war with a just peace based on negotiations,” he said.
Zelenskyy said the talks had been “sincere and fruitful,” although he refrained from alluding to the peace summit discussed in a statement issued on day X after the meeting.
Talks between Ukraine and Türkiye are always sincere and fruitful. Today we have reached agreements on joint defense projects both at the government level and between companies.
I met with representatives of the Turkish defense industry. We are prepared to act quickly to put… pic.twitter.com/mDpYDDEnwi
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 8, 2024
However, the Ukrainian leader, who is tasked with obtaining more ammunition and weaponry from allies to stop his enemy's advance on the eastern front, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that Russia would not be invited to the first meeting. of the summit to be held in Switzerland.
Zelenskyy also thanked Erdogan for his efforts in negotiating the release of Ukrainian prisoners “imprisoned in Russian prisons and camps in extremely harsh and inhumane conditions.”
I thank the president @RTErdogan for their efforts to free our citizens from Russian captivity. Thanks to Türkiye's mediation, we have achieved important humanitarian results. Now we have greater efforts.
Today I presented a list of our Ukrainian citizens,… pic.twitter.com/qFBW7AEDXh
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 8, 2024
Erdogan, who reiterated Turkey's support for Ukraine's “territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence,” said he and Zelenskyy had discussed port security, Black Sea security, prisoner exchanges and food security.
Turkey's strategic location on the Black Sea and its control of the Bosphorus Strait give it a unique military, political and economic role in the conflict.
Shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Turkey hosted failed ceasefire talks between kyiv and Moscow.
“Both sides have now reached the limit of what they can achieve through war,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this month.
“We believe it is time to start a dialogue towards a ceasefire.”
In July 2022, Ankara negotiated with the United Nations the Black Sea grain deal, the most important diplomatic agreement reached so far between kyiv and Moscow. But Moscow abandoned the initiative a year later, complaining that the terms were unfair.
kyiv has since used an alternative sea route skirting the coast to avoid disputed international waters.
The Erdogan-Zelenskyy meeting comes a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Fidan at a diplomatic forum in Antalya.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to visit Turkey last month but postponed the trip, according to Turkish and Russian media citing diplomatic sources. The Kremlin said it is rescheduling the visit.
