Meeting Between Putin and Erdogan in China.. Ukraine Present in Discussions

SadaNews - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks today, Monday, on the sidelines of the 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders taking place in China, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to meet with European leaders in Paris on Thursday.

During the meeting held in Tianjin, Putin praised Turkey's role in efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, stating that its "special role" in mediation and diplomacy will remain needed.

The Turkish side included Ministers of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, Defence Yaşar Güler, Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, and Commerce Ömer Polat, as well as Intelligence Agency Head İbrahim Kalın.

Turkey previously hosted a series of negotiation rounds between Russia and Ukraine to end the war between the two countries; however, the meetings failed to achieve any breakthroughs, and both sides settled for agreements to release thousands of prisoners from both sides and to return the bodies of soldiers.

Ukrainian-European Meeting

On another note, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with European leaders in Paris on Thursday, according to a European political source on Monday, amidst diplomatic efforts to find a settlement between Moscow and Kyiv.

The source stated that the upcoming meeting aims to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine in any potential settlement with Russia and to push diplomacy forward as the Russians are "stalling again."

Additionally, it is not expected that U.S. President Donald Trump will participate in this meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Sunday that he does not see any signs that Putin is ready to engage in ceasefire talks.

He added that instead, the only thing Russia is doing is investing more in the war.

Zelensky reiterated accusations against his Russian counterpart of trying to "dodge" negotiations to end the conflict, saying, "This is his primary sport."

On Sunday, the Ukrainian president also wrote on the platform X that his country plans to launch new strikes deep into Russia, following intense attacks on Russian energy sector assets over the past weeks.

Diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent weeks led by Trump in seeking to find a settlement to end the ongoing war in Ukraine since February 2022, without yielding results so far.