Turkey has renewed its offer to bring Ukrainian and Russian officials together for peace talks, as opposed to Kiev’s proposal to initially exclude Russia from an international summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday in Istanbul.
“We are ready to host a peace summit in which Russia will also participate,” Erdoğan told a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ankara is ready to mediate to “end the war with a fair peace based on negotiations,” Erdoğan said.
“We don’t see how we can invite people who will block, destroy and kill everything,” Zelensky said, citing Kiev’s plans for a possible summit in Switzerland, initially without Russia’s participation.
Russians can only be called after “the civilized countries of the world will prepare a detailed plan,” said Zelensky whose plan envisages a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
The two leaders also discussed secure food export corridors, navigational safety in the Black Sea as well prisoner exchange between Kiev and Moscow, Erdoğan added.
Ankara intends to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea grain deal which the UN and Turkey brokered in July 2022, Erdoğan added.
Under this agreement, Russia has offered security guarantees for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.
However, after the agreement expired in July 2023, Kiev secures its own corridor along the coastline through which freighters could safely call at Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for over two years with Western help. Turkey served as a venue for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine after the war started – even as Ankara provided Kiev with arms, most strategically combat drones.
Zelensky earlier on Friday visited shipyards in Istanbul where Turkey is building two corvette warships for Ukraine.
