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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will head to Turkey on Wednesday in an attempt to restart negotiations to put an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Kyiv and Moscow officially held a few rounds of direct talks in Turkey in the spring, but the process stalled since July.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he hoped the diplomatic process could restart.
“We are preparing to intensify negotiations, and we have developed solutions that we will propose to our partners”, Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Ukraine’s leader will most likely present it to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is also expected in Ankara on Wednesday.
Russian representatives will not take part in talks on Ukraine in Turkey, the Kremlin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was nevertheless open to conversations with the US and Turkey on the results of the talks, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected any possibility of direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.
The Kremlin’s reluctance to negotiate
Despite numerous attempts to organise a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, Moscow never agreed to such a summit.
The Kremlin also repeatedly rejected Donald Trump’s peace initiative to hold the fighting at the current frontlines and then continue the peace negotiations.
Over the past few weeks, Russia has intensified its assaults in eastern Ukraine, specifically in the Pokrovsk direction, and in the south of Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Moscow has also significantly ramped up its aerial attacks against Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure.
In many cities across Ukraine civilians have been forced to cope with over 15 hours per day without electricity, following Russian missile and drone strikes.
Can the ceasefire talks resume?
Turkey has already hosted a handful of rounds of lower-level talks between Kyiv and Moscow this year. The meetings did not yield much progress, with the only tangible result being agreements on large prisoner-of-war exchanges.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv is working to resume POW swaps.
“Bringing the war to an end is Ukraine’s top priority. We are also working to resume exchanges and the return of prisoners,” he outlined.
Earlier, Trump had expressed his frustration with Putin and his refusal to scale down his maximalist demands and agree to a ceasefire.
Last month, the US president said he believed that Turkey’s Erdoğan could play a role in ending the war in Ukraine, noting that he has contacts with both Zelenskyy and Putin.