Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Turkey’s mediation attempts in the Ukraine war during talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in China on Monday.
“I’m confident that Turkey’s special role in these matters will continue to be in demand,” Putin said at a meeting with Erdoğan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
He noted that three rounds of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul had made limited progress on humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges and the return of soldiers’ bodies.
The negotiations have not produced a breakthrough, with Moscow and Kyiv having starkly different positions. Ukraine has accused Russia of sending delegates without real decision-making authority, while Russia has demanded recognition of its claims over four Ukrainian regions — a condition Kyiv rejects as unacceptable.
US President Donald Trump has urged a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but the Kremlin has said it is premature until key disputes are resolved.
Russia’s full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022, has devastated large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine and left tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead.