Erdoğan proposes new Putin-Zelensky-Trump meeting in Türkiye
ANKARA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 2 reiterated his willingness to host a meeting between the American, Russian and Ukrainian leaders 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] Zelensky together in Istanbul or Ankara, and even to bring [U.S. President] Mr [Donald] Trump to their side, if they accept," he said, adding that Türkiye would "take steps" to facilitate such a meeting.
Türkiye, he said, would "take steps" to facilitate such a meeting, following direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul on June 2.
The White House said on June 2 U.S. President Donald Trump is open to an invitation by his Turkish counterpart to hold three-way peace talks in Türkiye with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
"The president has said he's open to it if it comes to that, but he wants both of these leaders and both sides to come to the table together," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked about Erdoğan's proposal.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdoğan said Russia-Ukraine talks being held despite the incidents that took place a day earlier itself is a "significant achievement," referring to Ukraine's massive drone strikes on Russian air bases thousands of kilometers behind the front lines.
The attack hit Russian military planes worth a combined $7 billion.
Ukraine said on June 1 it launched a "large-scale" attack to destroy Russian bombers as it geared up for talks in Istanbul with Moscow counterparts to explore prospects of a ceasefire.
At Monday's meeting, which lasted just over an hour, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange severely injured prisoners of war as well as those under 25, alongside the remains of 6,000 troops killed in combat, Kiev said.
"It was truly a magnificent meeting. As a result of this meeting, although there had been prisoner exchanges before, this time the number of prisoner exchanges exceeded a thousand. Beyond exceeding a thousand, there was also the return of some bodies from Russia and Ukraine outside of this prisoner exchange. These numbers are also very large. We are truly proud of this," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan announced that in the event of leaders coming together in Türkiye, he “will also meet with them at this meeting so that we can turn Istanbul into a center of peace.”
Erdoğan emphasized that Türkiye's stance has been clear since the first day of the war and that they never wanted to see conflict, fighting, war, and oppression in the region.
“We are sincerely striving to establish a sustainable peace that both sides will accept. Türkiye is a country that has earned everyone's trust with its fair stance,” he said.
