Photo: Volodymyr Zelensky / Telegram
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that he will travel to Türkiye on Wednesday in an attempt to restart negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, though Moscow said shortly afterwards that no Russian representatives would be present.
Stressing that bringing war to an end was “Ukraine’s top priority”, Zelensky said that Kyiv had “developed solutions” that it planned to present to its partners during a meeting in Türkiye. “We are also working to restore POW exchanges and bring our prisoners of war home,” Zelensky added.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is also attending the talks, Reuters reported on Tuesday. However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency TASS that no Russian representatives would be travelling to Türkiye on Wednesday, noting that Moscow had not received confirmation from Kyiv that it was willing to resume negotiations.
The last face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia were held in Istanbul in July. On that occasion, the parties did not come to an agreement on ending hostilities, but did agree to exchange military and civilian prisoners of war.
On Sunday, Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said that the parties were preparing a new mass exchange of prisoners of war, though that has not so far been confirmed by Moscow.
Last week, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya told The Times that peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow had faltered due to the Russian refusal to discuss the key terms of any ceasefire.
