Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara on Wednesday and is scheduled to meet Thursday with U.S. military leaders in Kyiv amid reports that the Trump administration is quietly working with Russia to iron out a peace deal.
The Ukrainian leader used the Wednesday meeting, which was held after an overnight Russian drone and missile attack on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, to “reinvigorate negotiations” and to discuss whether Mr. Erdogan can assist Ukraine in achieving peace. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was scheduled to join the discussion with Mr. Zelenskyy but canceled his trip unexpectedly.
Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Erdogan, in brief statements to the press, expressed their commitment to finding a peaceful settlement to the war. Turkey is a key broker in the Black Sea region, preserving relations with both Ukraine and Russia.
“We count on the strength of Turkish diplomacy, on [how] it’s understood in Moscow,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.
“Turkey’s important and active involvement in the Coalition of the Willing, especially in its naval component, is crucial. Everyone understands the importance of security in the Black Sea, and such security can only be guaranteed together with Turkey,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I am grateful to Turkey and personally to President Erdogan for this assistance. We value the trust that exists between us and between our states, and we count on the strength of Turkish diplomacy.”
The two leaders also pledged to collaborate on resuming prisoner exchanges. Mr. Zelenskyy hopes to retrieve “Ukrainian military prisoners of war, Ukrainian civilians held by Russia, and abducted Ukrainian children.”
Turkey, a NATO member, has been a key interlocutor between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ankara offered to host a series of meetings between the two nations shortly after the invasion. Although Mr. Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t have a face-to-face meeting in July, the two nations exchanged prisoners.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Army delegation led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, traveled to Kyiv this week for negotiations, an Army official confirmed to The Associated Press. They are expected to meet Thursday with Mr. Zelenskyy to discuss the stalled peace efforts with Russia.
The Army leaders are the highest-ranking Pentagon members to visit Ukraine since President Trump took office in January.
They also are scheduled to meet with Ukrainian military officials to discuss a potential exchange deal on drones and autonomous munitions.
Reports indicate that the White House is collaborating with Moscow to finalize a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine. The plan, first reported by Axios, would give Russia control of several parts of eastern Ukraine that it does not currently control, including Luhansk and Donetsk, in exchange for a U.S. security guarantee for Kyiv.
Under the plan, the U.S. would formally recognize Donbas and Crimea as legally part of Russia.
Mr. Witkoff discussed the plan this week with Mr. Zelenskyy’s national security adviser, Rustem Umerov. The Ukrainian official reportedly agreed to several points of the plan.
Mr. Witkoff has begun to brief European countries on the plan.
Mr. Zelenskyy said before the talks with Mr. Erdogan that he had seen “some positions and signals from the United States” about the war. He didn’t elaborate, but new U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, which were devised to push Mr. Putin to the negotiating table, are due to take effect Friday.
Moscow said earlier this week that its diplomats would not attend the Wednesday meeting, although Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Mr. Putin was interested in hearing the outcome of the talks.
Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The Russian barrage on Ternopil killed at least 25 people, including three children, authorities said.
The nighttime attack hit two nine-story apartment blocks in Ternopil, about 120 miles from the Polish border, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. At least 73 people, including 15 children, were injured, emergency services said.
At least 19 among those killed were burned alive, including three children ages 5, 7 and 16, Mr. Klymenko said. Two dozen people are still unaccounted for, he said on national television, and rescuers expected to work at least two more days to complete the search of the rubble.
Russia fired 476 strike and decoy drones, as well as 48 missiles of various types, at Ukrainian targets, Ukraine’s air force said. The bombardment included 47 cruise missiles, and air defenses intercepted all but six of them, the air force said. Western-supplied F-16 and Mirage-2000 jets intercepted at least 10 cruise missiles.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia [to stop the war] is insufficient,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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