Erdoğan says Putin, Zelenskyy "not yet ready" for face-to-face meet on war

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said he had discussed possible ways to end the conflict in Ukraine with Russia’s Vladimir Putin during talks in China, and with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone, but noted that the parties were "not yet ready" for a leaders' summit.

Speaking to journalists on his flight back from China, Erdoğan said he had met Putin and subsequently telephoned Zelenskyy. He recalled that recent discussions between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul demonstrated that a path to peace remains possible.

Türkiye supports "gradually raising the level of negotiations" to transform hopes for peace into tangible progress, he added, while stressing that any such initiative would eventually require engagement at the level of national leaders, although the conditions were not yet in place.

As a NATO member, Türkiye has maintained dialogue with both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia's 2022 invasion and has repeatedly sought to play a mediating role.

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