The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenskireferred this Wednesday – without providing any details or specificities in this regard – to a possible reactivation of the negotiation process with Russia in Istanbulstarted during the spring of this year in the great Turkish metropolis.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations met on three occasions, in May, June and July, to reach several prisoner exchange agreements and little else: in those talks the enormous distance that separates the Kiev y Moscow to reach any type of ceasefire agreement.
Zelensky, after his visit to Spain this Tuesday, met this Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoganin Ankara, the capital of the Anatolian country. “We have discussed effective diplomacy, and there are many processes that are being reactivated and revisited. We are making our efforts to achieve a just peace. Russia must understand that war and killing people cannot be rewarded [en las negociaciones]”said the Ukrainian president in a statement to the press after the meeting with Erdogan, in a possible veiled reference to the peace plan that the US is negotiating with Moscow.
According to statements by anonymous US officials to the press in recent days, the special envoy of Donald Trump for Russia, Steven Witkoffhas been working on a new supposed “secret” plan to revive peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Upon returning from his trip to Türkiye towards Kiev, this Thursday, Zelensky is scheduled to meet with officials of the US Army —who have been in Moscow this week— to discuss this supposed new plan of Washingtonof which the details are unknown.
Rumors, however, suggest that it could be similar to Trump’s plan for Gaza, in which Russia could be in charge, on paper, of the security and control of some of the Ukrainian regions invaded by Moscow.
“Keep the process”
“In our meeting today we discussed the keep this Istanbul processin a pragmatic and effective way. The effects of the war are becoming more profound, and the Istanbul negotiation process is still a possible option. The loss of life “It is something that is causing great destruction for both sides,” Erdogan said in the statement to the press after the meeting with Zelensky, which lasted about two hours.
Türkiye has thus emerged as the only country, to date, that has managed to mediate and maintain its relations with both kyiv and Moscow. Ankara is one of the largest suppliers of armament —and drones— to Ukraine, while it is the only country in the I’LL TAKE that has not imposed sanctions against Russia Vladimir Putin“a great friend” of Erdogan, according to the Turkish president himself.
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