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The United States “looks forward to participating in the next round of trilateral talks, which will take place soon,” a White House official told Türkiye Today on Wednesday.
The statement came the same day President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told President Donald Trump by phone that Türkiye is ready to back efforts to revive diplomacy between Ukraine and Russia.
The official spoke in response to questions from Türkiye Today. The comment arrives as all three parties signal that negotiations are moving forward.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has pointed to Abu Dhabi as Moscow’s preferred venue, with talks expected in mid-November.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wants them “no later than early November.”
The official speaking to Türkiye Today said Trump “wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends.”
The president and his team, the official added, remain committed to a constructive role in ending the war and Trump is optimistic that a peace deal will ultimately be reached.
The official said the United States continues to speak to both sides and described Washington as “the only country in the world that can play that role.”
The official presented the plan to attend the next round as consistent with what the president has already said publicly.
The Erdogan-Trump call was confirmed by Türkiye’s Directorate of Communications.
According to the Turkish readout, the leaders reviewed bilateral relations and regional and global developments, including the Strait of Hormuz, Yemen and the war in Ukraine.
Erdogan said Türkiye is ready to support work to revive the diplomatic process and to end the war “through diplomacy,” the readout said.
He also said Ankara would keep working to strengthen ties with Washington and to add momentum to cooperation in every field, noting that the two countries will mark the 100th anniversary of their relations next year.
On Hormuz and Yemen, the readout said Erdogan told Trump that Türkiye is following developments closely as part of what it called the Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, and that it is working to resolve the issues through diplomacy.
Trump, in turn, extended greetings to Erdogan and the Turkish people for Republic Day, which Türkiye marks on October 29.
He also conveyed his wishes for a successful Organization of Turkic States Summit, according to the readout.
Three earlier rounds of US-brokered trilateral talks were held this year, two in Abu Dhabi and one in Geneva, and produced little beyond a prisoner swap. The most recent US-mediated session took place in Geneva in February, days before Washington and Israel launched military operations against Iran.
Before that, Russia and Ukraine met directly in Istanbul on June 2, 2025, in talks that were not mediated by Washington. Those talks also ended with an agreement on a prisoner swap but no breakthrough on a settlement.
Contact between Washington and Moscow has since resumed at the envoy level. Witkoff’s meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg on October 21 was the first visit to Russia by a US envoy since September 5.
Türkiye Today also asked the White House whether Istanbul had been considered as a venue for the coming round. The question remains unanswered.
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