Putin and Zelenskyy remain unready for a leaders’ meeting despite ongoing talks

Erdoğan said he spoke with journalists aboard his plane while returning from China, where he met with the Russian dictator, and then said he called Zelenskyy. According to him, talks in recent months between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul showed that the path to peace “remains open.”

He added that Turkey advocates for a “gradual increase in the level of negotiations” to turn hopes for peace into concrete results, noting that any initiative would ultimately need to be considered at the level of leaders, though the conditions for this “are not yet in place.”

Earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Putin confirmed during an Aug. 18 phone call with Donald Trump that he was ready to meet with the Ukrainian president.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on a possible Putin-Zelenskyy meeting, said the Kremlin was supposedly “ready for any formats,” but that “preparation is needed.”

Lavrov also said that during the meeting between Trump, the Ukrainian president, and European leaders in Washington, Zelenskyy “rejected the proposed positions, in particular, the idea of renouncing NATO membership and discussing territorial issues.”

On Aug. 25, Donald Trump warned Russia of possible “major consequences” if a cease-fire agreement was not reached within the next two weeks.