Zelenskyy announces meeting with Erdogan on 15 May

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: Getty Images

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that he will travel to Turkey on 15 May to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At the same time, he expressed his readiness to meet with Vladimir Putin there, if he arrives.

The head of state said this during a conversation with media representatives.

He stressed that he initiated the meeting on his own and expects it to be an additional signal to the United States and President Donald Trump.

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«I will be in Turkey on 15 May, ready to meet with Putin. This is another signal from the US, namely President Trump. I insisted on a meeting, but they could not agree. One said there would be a ceasefire, the other said there would be no ceasefire,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

He added that if Putin came to Istanbul, he was ready to go there with Erdogan.

«We will be waiting to meet with Putin. To prevent Russia from manipulating cities and saying that Putin is not ready to fly to Ankara, but is only ready to fly to Istanbul, I want to say right away: if Putin arrives in Istanbul, and not the capital, I have conveyed the signal to President Erdogan and the Turkish side is ready for me and President Erdogan to fly to Istanbul,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President also confirmed that he would arrive with an official delegation, but its composition has not yet been disclosed.

The media reported that US President Donald Trump would send special representatives Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg to the talks in Turkey.

Earlier, the Russian president's spokesman Dmitrii Peskov said that he could not yet name the names of the Russian representatives who would take part in the peace talks with Ukraine scheduled for 15 May in Istanbul.

As a reminder, on 11 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his desire to resume direct talks with Ukraine, which were suspended at the end of 2022. He also said that he planned to address Turkish President Recep Erdogan with a proposal to organise the talks.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for direct talks, calling it a «good sign». However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that a ceasefire was needed first to really start a dialogue with Russia.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to hold talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul on 15 May.

US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should accept the Kremlin's offer to hold direct talks in Istanbul on 15 May: «Have that meeting, now».

Subsequently, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that he was looking forward to direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 15 May in Turkey.