Zelenski announced that he will go to Turkey on Wednesday: “We are preparing to relaunch peace negotiations”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday that he plans to travel to Turkey on Wednesday in an attempt to resume negotiations with Russia on ending the war.

A Turkish source told Reuters that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would also be in Turkey on Wednesday and join planned talks there with Zelenski.

Vladimir Putin's special envoy Kiril Dmitriev will not attend meetings with US, Turkish and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul on November 19, a source close to Dmitriev told Reuters. “Dmitriev held very productive talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on October 24-26 in the United States,” the source added.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it would not take part in the meetings, but Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian president was open to discussions with the United States and Turkey over the results.

“We are preparing to relaunch negotiations and have developed solutions that we will propose to our partners. Doing everything possible to bring the end of the war closer is Ukraine's top priority,” Zelenskiy, who is visiting Spain on Tuesday, wrote about the meetings in Turkey.

Face-to-face talks between officials from Kiev and Moscow have not taken place since their meeting in Istanbul in July.

Ukraine and Russia held several rounds of talks in Istanbul, which resulted in the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers.

But the two sides have made no progress on stopping the fighting or a solution to end the nearly four-year war.

Zelensky also said in Tuesday's post that Ukraine is also working to restore prisoner-of-war exchanges.