ANKARA, Turkiye: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ankara on Wednesday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Kyiv pushes for ‘reinvigorating’ a peace process with Russia, launched in Istanbul originally.
Ukraine aspires to “reinvigorate” a process mediated by Turkiye while Zelensky looks to drum up more international support.
The Ukrainian President flew to Ankara on Wednesday, where he was scheduled to meet President Erdogan.
Zelensky’s last stopover in his tour of Europe was Spain, where he met Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations last met in Istanbul last July, a meeting that led to a prisoner exchange but no certain end to the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
Ukrainian authorities announced on Wednesday that at least 19 people have been killed in a Russian air attack in Ukraine’s Ternopil.
Zelensky announced in a social media post on Tuesday that he was preparing to reinvigorate negotiations and separately said he would discuss with Turkish officials on how to achieve a “just peace” in the ongoing conflict.
“Doing everything possible to bring the end of the war closer is Ukraine’s top priority,” Zelensky said.
Turkiye is among the candidates for mediating the conflict as it enjoys good relations with both sides.
It is also a member of NATO that remains vigilant against the possibility of a spillover of the conflict to Europe’s eastern flank. Istanbul was the venue of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the early weeks of the conflict three years ago.
Media reports have indicated that the United States, which also pushes for an end to the conflict, would also send its envoy Steve Witkoff to Turkiye to join Zelensky’s talks with Turkish officials.
However, a US State Department official, cited by AFP, said on Wednesday that Witkoff will not attend talks between Zelensky and Erdogan in Turkiye.
“It is false that Special Envoy Witkoff will be traveling to Turkey,” a senior US State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Media outlet Axios has reported on Tuesday that Washington has been secretly working on a roadmap to end the war in consultation with Russia.
Asked about the report, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday there were no developments to announce on possible peace proposals since Putin and Trump held a summit in Alaska in August.
