Zelenskyy ready for potential meeting with Putin in Türkiye: Ukrainian foreign minister

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready for a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Türkiye, the Ukrainian foreign minister said on Sunday.

In an interview with Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform on the sidelines of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Andrii Sybiha said that Türkiye has the ability to make “truly unprecedented, unique achievements in diplomacy.”

“We have appealed to Türkiye to consider the possibility of organizing a meeting at the level of President Zelenskyy and Putin, with the possible participation of presidents (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and (US President Donald) Trump,” Sybiha said.

He said that the Ukrainian side, including Zelenskyy, is ready for such a meeting, adding that Kyiv has “effective proposals” and that they hope for Türkiye’s role, which he said “can play and accelerate the peace process” surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war.

Türkiye previously hosted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, first in the initial weeks of the ongoing four-year war and later in mid-2025.

Three rounds of renewed peace talks were held last year in Istanbul -- on May 16, June 2, and July 23 -- which produced major prisoner swaps and draft memorandums outlining positions of both sides for a potential peace deal.

Under US mediation, Moscow and Kyiv also held three rounds of peace talks earlier this year on Jan. 23-24, Feb. 4-5, and Feb. 17-18. The first two were in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.

Since then, negotiations have been paused with both Moscow and Kyiv attributing the halt in Russia-Ukraine peace talks to the US' focus on Iran.

'Strategic partner'

Sybiha also spoke about relations between Ankara and Kyiv, saying that Türkiye has a special place in Ukraine's diplomatic relations, particularly as a "strategic partner."

"Türkiye is a NATO country. Türkiye has one of the strongest armies in the world. And now Ukraine also has one of the strongest armies, not only in Europe. All this creates the ground for really close cooperation," Sybiha said.

"I am a supporter of creating alliances with Türkiye, given its role in the region and the role of our country, which is growing. All this allows us to launch new formats of interaction, as happened with Syria," he added.

The Ukrainian foreign minister further said the trade turnover between his country and Türkiye is growing, noting that they have an almost 40% growth in 2025 compared to the previous year.

"I am convinced that we still have untapped potential that we must further develop," he said.

Sybiha also assessed his contacts at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, saying he had a lot of requests for a meeting during the three-day event.

"For me, as a minister of a country at war, this is a chance to develop and establish new partnerships. I don't remember when I had so many requests to meet during multilateral platforms," Sybiha stated.