Istanbul: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his upcoming visit to Turkey on Wednesday, as part of efforts to “reinvigorate” peace talks and restore prisoner-of-war exchanges with Russia.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, negotiations to end the ongoing conflict have stalled after previous rounds of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul failed to produce significant progress. Moscow has dismissed proposals for a ceasefire and has continued its military advances and bombardments of Ukrainian cities.
Zelensky, in a social media post on Tuesday, stated, “We are preparing to reinvigorate negotiations, and we have developed solutions that we will propose to our partners.” Although he did not specify who he intends to meet, he emphasized efforts to resume POW exchanges to bring Ukrainian prisoners of war back home.
The past negotiations, held between May and July in Istanbul, resulted only in limited prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of fallen soldiers’ bodies. The most recent prisoner swap occurred in early October, with both Moscow and Kyiv exchanging 185 prisoners each.
Russia has not yet responded to Zelensky’s latest statement. However, last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed Russia’s openness to negotiation processes to resolve the conflict, while attributing the stalemate to Kyiv and Europe.
Ukraine maintains that Russia’s insistence on unacceptable demands, such as ceding more territory, demonstrates its unwillingness to end the invasion. Meanwhile, Zelensky is on a European tour seeking support for Ukraine’s army and infrastructure, amidst Russia’s advances and internal corruption issues. He is scheduled to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and recently signed an accord with France for military hardware acquisition.