"In today's meetings, we emphasized the importance of the Istanbul Process continuing with a pragmatic and results-oriented strategy," the Turkish president said at a joint press conference with Zelensky.
A total of three rounds of direct talks took place in Istanbul between May and July. The only concrete result was prisoner exchanges of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.
According to Erdogan, the intense state of the war, with recurring attacks on important energy infrastructure and bloody attacks on cities, requires immediate new negotiations.
We also expect all our partners who want to see an end to the bloodbath in the region to adopt a constructive approach to the Istanbul Process, Erdogan said.
Zelenskyy says at the press conference that he hopes for new prisoner exchanges soon.
We hope to resume exchanges before the end of the year to bring back a significant number of prisoners.
It was rumored on Tuesday that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelensky would also meet in Turkey, but according to sources at the US State Department, Witkoff is not attending.
At the same time, Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, states that the Ukrainian delegation is in "constant contact" with representatives of US President Donald Trump.
