President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye called on Ukraine and Russia to resume the İstanbul talks process during his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine in the capital, Ankara.
In the joint press conference held after the meeting, Erdoğan stated that Türkiye is eager "to continue the İstanbul Process with a pragmatic and results-orientated approach."
Erdoğan noted that the three rounds of talks held so far marked "an important milestone" towards a possible solution for Russia and Ukraine and added that Türkiye hopes the representatives of both parties will adopt a "constructive attitude" towards the resumption of this process.
Highlighting the escalation of Russia and Ukraine's attacks on one another as the primary driver behind Türkiye's proposal to resume talks in İstanbul, Erdoğan said, "Especially, the increasing attacks on energy infrastructure and the loss of lives cause irreparable devastation to both sides."
Zelenskyy thanked Türkiye for its stance throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the press conference. Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine "believes in the power of Turkish diplomacy" and expressed hope to reinitiate the prisoner exchange process with Russia by the end of the year.
This year, the high-level negotiation delegations of Russia and Ukraine held three rounds of talks in İstanbul.