On February 24, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Turkey is ready to host potential talks between Ukraine and Russia and supports any initiative that contributes to peace.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Turkey on the same day and held meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other officials including Fidan.
After the meeting, Fidan said at a press conference that a solution can only be found when both Russia and Ukraine participate in peace talks.
According to Fidan, Turkey "is ready to provide all forms of support for achieving peace through negotiations" and "we are ready to host these talks as we did in the past".
After the Ukraine crisis escalated in February 2022, representatives of Russia and Ukraine met and negotiated in Turkey the following month. In July of the same year, representatives of Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations held a ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey, to sign an agreement on the export of agricultural products from Black Sea ports.
Erdoğan has previously proposed several times to hold a summit in Turkey with the participation of Russia and Ukraine.
When asked about Ukraine's request for security guarantees from the United States and its Western partners, Fidan said that Turkey "is in principle ready to take any measures that contribute to peace".
Lavrov said that Russia's position on the conditions required to end the war remains unchanged. Russia opposes Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and this is non - negotiable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Turkey last week and held talks with Erdoğan. On the same day, representatives of the United States and Russia held talks in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, aimed at ending the Ukraine crisis, without the participation of Ukraine.