Ukraine has asked Turkey, a NATO member that has maintained close diplomatic ties with Moscow, to host a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's foreign minister said, as Kiev seeks to revive stalled peace talks.
“We asked the Turks for this, we asked other capitals,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in comments to reporters on Tuesday that were cleared for publication on Wednesday.
He added that Ukraine would be ready to consider any place, apart from Belarus and Russia, for a meeting with Putin. Zelenskiy has long called for such a meeting in an attempt to advance a solution to the war started by Vladimir Putin more than four years ago.
Belarus is a close ally of Russia and allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Kremlin proposed a Putin-Zelensky meeting in Moscow
Sybiha did not specify how Ankara responded to Ukraine's proposal to hold a meeting between the two heads of state.
“We specifically addressed the Turks,” he said. “But if another capital besides Moscow and Belarus organizes such a meeting, we will participate,” he stressed.
The Kremlin has previously said it is willing to host Zelensky in Moscow, where the Ukrainian leader has said he will not go.
Separately, Sybiha said he had already exchanged text messages with Anita Orban, who will become Hungary's new foreign minister when the new government, which won elections there earlier this month, takes office.
