Trump open to meeting Ukrainian, Russian leaders in Türkiye

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump is open to sitting down with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Türkiye as part of a broader initiative to end the Kremlin's war on its eastern European neighbor, the White House said Monday.

"The president has said he's open to it if it comes to that, but he wants both of these leaders and both sides to sit down at the table together," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The comments come after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier on Monday offered to hold a summit involving himself and the leaders of the three nations.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan said his "greatest wish" is to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together in Istanbul or Ankara. "I would even like to bring [US President Donald] Trump along,” he said, as Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Istanbul for a second round of negotiations.

"It was truly a magnificent meeting. As a result of this meeting, although there had been prisoner exchanges before, this time the number of prisoner exchanges exceeded a thousand. Beyond exceeding a thousand, there was also the return of some bodies from Russia and Ukraine outside of this prisoner exchange. These numbers are also very large. We are truly proud of this," Erdogan said.

Erdogan said that in the event of leaders coming together in Türkiye, he “will also meet with them at this meeting so that we can turn Istanbul into a center of peace.”