Ukraine asks Turkiye to host Zelenskyy-Putin peace talks

Ukraine has formally asked Turkiye to host a potential meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Kyiv seeks to revive stalled peace negotiations, Ukraine’s foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on April 22 that Ukraine had also approached other capitals, but Turkiye was specifically requested as a possible venue for the high-level talks, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

“We asked the Turks about it, we asked some other capitals,” Sybiha told reporters, adding that Ukraine would consider any location for the meeting except Russia or Belarus.

Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, was used as a staging ground for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, making it unacceptable for Kyiv as a neutral переговор venue.

Sybiha did not disclose Turkiye’s response to the proposal. However, he stressed that Ukraine remains open to dialogue in a neutral third country willing to facilitate direct talks between the two leaders.

Russia has previously suggested Moscow as a location for any meeting with Zelenskyy, an option Kyiv has rejected outright.

The Ukrainian president has long called for direct negotiations with Putin in an effort to bring an end to the more than four-year war.

In separate remarks, Sybiha also said he had exchanged written messages with Hungary’s incoming foreign minister, Anita Orban, ahead of a change in government in Budapest.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada