Zelenskiy visits Turkey amid reports of US peace plan
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with the Turkish president following reports that the United States was discussing possible peace conditions with Russia and will meet with US military officials in Kiev.
A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Ukraine had received “signals” about a series of US proposals to end the war that the US is discussing with Russia.
Ukraine had no role in preparing the proposals, the source said.
Signs of a renewed US-led push to end the war triggered the biggest rise in Ukraine’s government bond prices in months on Wednesday.
There have been no face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia since a meeting in Istanbul in July, and Russian forces have continued the Kremlin’s almost four-year war in Ukraine, killing 25 people overnight.
Efforts to revive peace talks appear to be gaining momentum, but Russia has shown no signs of changing the terms to end the war.
Zelenskiy met with President Tayyip Erdogan after his visits to Greece, France and Spain, which continued despite the political crisis in Ukraine due to the corruption scandal that resulted in the parliament’s dismissal of the energy and justice ministers on Wednesday.
Zelenskiy has remained focused on the war effort and said Tuesday he was preparing to “revive negotiations” and discuss with Erdogan how to bring “just peace” to Ukraine.
“It is Ukraine’s top priority to do everything possible to bring the end of the war closer,” he said on Tuesday.
Ukraine hopes to revive a prisoner-of-war exchange with Russia by the end of the year, Zelenskiy said after meeting Erdogan on Wednesday.
“Of course, we talked in detail about the situation in diplomacy. Many processes have now become more active and we are trying to ensure that all activities are specifically aimed at peace,” Zelenskiy said. he said.
Russian forces control about 19 percent of Ukrainian territory and are advancing rapidly in mid-winter, launching frequent attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Türkiye, a member of the NATO military alliance that remains close to both sides, hosted the first round of peace talks in the first weeks of the war in 2022; this was the only such meeting until this year, when US President Donald Trump launched a new initiative to end the war.
The Kremlin said that Russian representatives would not attend the talks, but that President Vladimir Putin was open to talks with the United States and Türkiye regarding the results of the talks.
Axios reported Tuesday that the United States, in consultation with Russia, is secretly working on a road map to end the war.
Asked about the report on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “So far there are no innovations that can be reported to you in this regard.”
The US embassy in Kiev said a US delegation led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was in Kiev on a “fact-finding mission”.
Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George is also on the delegation, and he and Driscoll will meet with Zelenskiy on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A Turkish source said that US special envoy Steve Witkoff may also visit Türkiye, but no statement was made from US officials regarding such a visit.
Another source in the Turkish foreign ministry said Turkish officials would meet only with Zelenskiy and that Witkoff was not expected to attend the Ankara meetings.
