Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Turkey in bid to revive peace talks with Russia

No Russian representation at Ankara meetings

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a visit to Istanbul in July 2023. EPA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Turkey's capital on Wednesday to revive stalled efforts to end the 45-month conflict with Russia.

There appeared to be few concrete outcomes after Mr Zelenskyy met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for several hours on Wednesday afternoon.

"We discussed a solution for the war in Ukraine, we exchanged opinions," Mr Erdogan told a joint press conference.

A push by US President Donald Trump to end the war in Ukraine has stalled. Earlier this year, Turkey hosted three rounds of direct peace talks between senior Russian and Ukrainian officials, but without leaders Vladimir Putin and Mr Zelenskyy.

Those talks, known in Turkey as the "Istanbul process", resulted in some prisoner exchanges but stopped short of finding a mechanism to end the war.

The two countries want to increase trade and Turkey wants to play a part in Ukraine's reconstruction. "But first of all, we must accelerate a ceasefire and pave the way for a just and lasting peace," Mr Erdogan said.

Turkish officials say Turkey is one of the few countries that can speak to both Russia and Ukraine, making it an essential partner in western diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Turkish defence companies have supplied Ukraine with weaponry, including drones, while Turkey remains heavily reliant on natural gas imported from Russia through pipelines across the Black Sea to meet its energy needs.

"We discussed the future of our co-operation in defence, some joint production projects," Mr Zelenskyy told reporters in Ankara.

"Our teams will continue working on the topics that we agree on today and we will see outcomes."

Mr Zelenskyy arrived in Turkey after visiting France, where he and President Emmanuel Macron sealed a deal for Ukraine to acquire 100 Rafale fighter jets, and Spain.

The Ukrainian president also said that the visit to Ankara had helped to "reinvigorate and accelerate" diplomatic processes to reach a "just peace", without providing details.

Before the visit, he had said that he hoped the visit would lead to a resumption of prisoner-of-war exchanges. Ukraine and Russia have swapped thousands of detainees in exchanges enabled by Turkey, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

A Russian diplomatic official declined to say whether Moscow representatives would meet Ukrainian officials during Mr Zelenskyy’s visit to Turkey. Without Russian involvement, there were no announcements on any prisoner exchanges as a result of Wednesday's talks.