The key facts
- Zelensky is ready to meet Putin in Turkey and asks Erdogan to convey this proposal to the Russian side
- He insists the meeting take place precisely at the leaders' level, since technical negotiations have not stopped the fighting
- Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmitruk called the initiative a bluff and suggested Moscow or Minsk
Initiative for a meeting in Turkey
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced his readiness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey and hopes that Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan will convey the corresponding proposal to the Russian side. According to him, the meeting should take place precisely at the level of heads of state, since technical negotiations have so far failed to bring an end to the fighting. Zelensky also noted that a lack of progress after a possible meeting would be a serious blow to diplomatic efforts.
Reaction in Kyiv
Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmitruk criticized this initiative. “Zelensky is bluffing yet again — begging for a meeting with Putin,” he said on his Telegram channel. In Dmitruk's view, Ankara should not become the venue for such a meeting; he named Moscow or Minsk as an alternative, and also believes that Kyiv should send a “legitimate representative” to the negotiations. This is reported by Life.ru.
Context and what remains unclear
Both positions remain statements by the parties for now: we are talking only about a proposal for a meeting conveyed through Erdogan and about the reaction of an individual deputy to it, not about an agreed venue or agenda. The publications contain no information about Moscow's reaction to the initiative or on whether the Russian side is ready for a leaders' meeting format. Separately, the Life.ru article mentions, that Zelensky rejected a US proposal to give up Donbas and Novorossiya, however there are no details of this episode in the available sources.
