Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara is working to organize a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. US President Donald Trump may also join the talks.

After his meeting with Trump on June 26, Erdogan said that the US president had expressed interest in participating if the meeting took place in Turkey.

“He said: ‘If Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a decision, then I will also come. We will make the necessary contacts and, with God's help, we will make this meeting happen as soon as possible,’” the Turkish president said.

Zelensky and Trump met during the NATO summit on June 25. The two leaders discussed developments on the battlefield, Kiev's need for additional air defense systems, and the potential for joint drone production.

The Ukrainian president has previously expressed his willingness to hold a trilateral meeting. On May 27, he told public television Suspilne that he was ready to sit down with both Trump and Putin.

Putin said he was also ready to meet, but did not attend previous talks proposed in Istanbul. Instead, he chose to send lower-level delegates to the peace talks held on May 16.

The Kremlin has long sought to portray Zelensky as “illegitimate.” In February, press secretary Dmitry Peskov insisted that any negotiations must consider the “legal aspects” of his mandate.

Previously, Turkey hosted direct peace talks in March 2022 and remained one of the few countries with open lines of communication with both Kyiv and Moscow. The latest round of direct talks on June 2 took place in Istanbul. | BGNES