Zelenskyy Travels to Turkiye to Revive Stalled Peace Talks, Seeks US Re-engagement

Zelenskyy travels to Turkiye to push for renewed negotiations

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Turkiye on Wednesday aiming to revive stalled negotiations to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. On a short diplomatic tour of European allies earlier in the week, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is "preparing to reinvigorate negotiations" and has put forward proposals he intends to present to international partners.

The visit is expected to include meetings in Ankara with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to news reports. Zelenskyy has been pressing Kyiv’s closest backers for additional military aid, including air defences, as winter approaches and Russia targets Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Russia not taking part, but open to debriefings

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian representatives would not participate in talks scheduled for November 19, though President Vladimir Putin remains open to debriefing conversations with the United States and Turkiye about any outcomes. Peskov said,

"For now, these contacts are taking place without Russian participation. We will await information on what would actually be discussed in Istanbul."

Diplomacy, military aid and prisoner exchanges

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Zelenskyy’s "main goal is for the Americans to re-engage" in peace efforts. Kyiv has been intensifying diplomatic efforts to ensure that shifts in US politics — including statements by former President Donald Trump that he could rapidly end the war — do not undercut American involvement in ceasefire talks.

While previous rounds of negotiations in Istanbul, mediated by the US and Turkiye, produced limited progress toward an end to hostilities, they achieved prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of some remains. Zelenskyy reiterated in his social media post that Ukraine is working "to restore POW exchanges and bring our prisoners of war home." He published the note while in Spain for talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and met French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday to sign an agreement enabling Kyiv to acquire up to 100 fighter jets and other hardware, including drones.

Peskov criticized the Macron deal, saying Paris "is in no way contributing to peace, but rather fuelling militaristic and pro-war sentiment."

Ongoing fighting and civilian impact

The security situation remains volatile. Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil and energy infrastructure, and on Tuesday Ukraine launched an aerial strike on power stations in the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk, leaving many areas without electricity, Russian-appointed officials said. Overnight drone attacks by Russia sparked multiple fires in Dnipro. Separately, a Russian missile strike on the town of Berestyn in Kharkiv region killed a 17-year-old girl and wounded 10 others, according to regional authorities.

What to watch next: whether the US re-engages in mediation, how Turkiye positions itself as host and interlocutor, and whether any practical steps on prisoner exchanges or ceasefire frameworks emerge from follow-up discussions.