Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 2, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleErdogan says Putin and Zelenskiy are not ready for direct talks on the Ukraine war, after discussions with both leaders. Turkey seeks to mediate.
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he discussed ways to end the Ukraine war with Russia's Vladimir Putin during talks in China and with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone, but that the sides were "not yet ready" for a leaders' meeting.
Erdogan spoke to reporters aboard his plane returning from China, where he met Putin and then said he called Zelenskiy. He said talks in recent months between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul showed the path to peace remains open.
Turkey favours "raising the level of negotiations gradually" to turn hopes for peace into concrete results, he said, adding that any initiative would ultimately need to be handled at the leaders' level, though conditions were not yet in place.
NATO member Turkey has kept channels open with both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia's 2022 invasion and has sought to mediate between them.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
Erdogan discussed ways to end the Ukraine war with Putin during talks in China.
Erdogan spoke with Zelenskiy by phone after his discussions with Putin.
Turkey favors gradually raising the level of negotiations to turn hopes for peace into concrete results.
Turkey has kept channels open with both Moscow and Kyiv and has sought to mediate between them since Russia's 2022 invasion.
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