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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday renewed his offer to host a meeting between the leaders of the United States, Russia and Ukraine in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.
"My greatest wish for both sides is to bring both (Russia's) Vladimir Putin and (Ukraine's Volodymyr) Zelenskyy together in Istanbul or Ankara, and even to bring (U.S. President) Mr (Donald) Trump to their side, if they accept," Erdogan said.
He added that Türkiye was prepared to "take steps" to facilitate such a meeting, following direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations held earlier Monday in Istanbul.
Erdogan described the fact that Monday’s talks occurred at all as a major diplomatic success, especially given the backdrop of heightened tensions after a dramatic Ukrainian drone strike over the weekend. That operation targeted multiple Russian air bases and reportedly damaged or destroyed strategic bombers deep inside Russian territory.
"It is a success in itself that the meeting happened despite what happened yesterday," Erdogan said, calling the talks "magnificent."
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During the hourlong meeting, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange severely wounded prisoners of war and detainees under the age of 25, as well as the remains of 6,000 soldiers killed in combat, according to a statement from Kyiv.
"These figures given by both Russia and Ukraine... (are) very, very important in terms of showing how important these Istanbul meetings are. And we are proud of this," Erdogan said.
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