Zelenskiy goes to Turkey for peace talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced that he will visit Turkey to revive peace talks with Russia. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
According to him, Kyiv is actively engaging in dialogue with a number of international partners and has prepared concrete proposals aimed at ending the war. Zelenskiy considers the full restoration of prisoner exchanges and seeking opportunities to bring the conflict to an end as the main tasks in this process.
According to sources in Turkey, US special envoy Steve Whitkoff will visit Ankara on November 19 and participate in talks with Zelenskiy. Additionally, the Ukrainian President is expected to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
At the same time, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Moscow has not received any information from Kyiv about this visit and that the Russian delegation will not be in Turkey. Since the beginning of the war, Turkey has been acting as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia.
Although several rounds of talks have been held in Istanbul since May 2025, they have mainly focused on prisoner exchanges. The most recent exchange took place in October, with both sides returning 185 prisoners.
However, no serious agreement has been reached on a ceasefire. According to Kyiv, Moscow has not shown a genuine desire to end the war and has put forward unacceptable conditions for Ukraine.
In particular, Russia has demanded the relinquishment of additional territories. While Zelenskiy is traveling across European countries, internal issues such as an energy crisis and corruption conflicts are intensifying in Ukraine.
He recently met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and signed an agreement with France on the delivery of military equipment. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya stated that peace talks have stalled because there is no possibility of working alongside Moscow.
However, on November 16, indirect talks on prisoner exchanges with Russia resumed in Kyiv. According to Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, efforts are underway to restore the Istanbul agreements.
Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are participating as mediators in this process. Technical negotiations are planned to be held soon, and organizational issues will be clarified.
This process remains an important step for Ukraine on the path to achieving peace.
