Russia, Ukraine war: Volodymyr Zelensky visits Turkey amid reports of US peace plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has held talks with Turkey’s President and is due to meet US army officials in Kyiv amid reports that the United States is discussing possible peace conditions with Russia.

A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Ukraine had received “signals” about a set of US proposals to end the war that the United States has discussed with Russia.

Ukraine has had no role in preparing the proposals, the source said.

Signs of a renewed US-led push to end the war triggered the biggest jump in Ukraine’s Government bond prices in months on Wednesday.

No face-to-face talks have taken place between Ukraine and Russia since a meeting in Istanbul in July and Russian forces have pressed on with the Kremlin’s nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, killing 25 people in strikes overnight.

Efforts to revive peace negotiations appear to be gaining momentum although Russia has shown no sign of changing its terms for ending the war.

Mr Zelensky met President Tayyip Erdogan after visits to Greece, France and Spain that went ahead despite a political crisis in Ukraine over a corruption scandal in which parliament dismissed the energy and justice ministers on Wednesday.

Mr Zelensky has remained focused on the war effort and said on Tuesday he was preparing to “reinvigorate negotiations” and discuss with Mr Erdogan how to bring a “just peace” to Ukraine.

“Doing everything possible to bring the end of the war closer is Ukraine’s top priority,” he said on Tuesday.

Mr Zelensky said after meeting Mr Erdogan on Wednesday that Ukraine hopes to revive prisoner of war exchanges with Russia by the end of the year.

“Of course, we talked substantively about the situation in diplomacy. And now many processes have become more active, and we are trying to ensure that all activity is aimed specifically at peace,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russian forces control about 19 per cent of Ukrainian territory and are grinding forwards while carrying out frequent attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure amid winter.

Turkey, a NATO military alliance member that has remained close to both sides, hosted an initial round of peace talks in the early weeks of the war in 2022 - the only such talks until this year when US President Donald Trump launched a new bid to end the fighting.

The Kremlin said Russian representatives would not be involved in the talks but that President Vladimir Putin was open to conversations with the United States and Turkey about the results of the discussions.

Axios reported on Tuesday that the US has been secretly working on a road map to end the war in consultation with Russia.

Asked about the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday: “So far there are no innovations on this that can be reported to you.”

A US delegation led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is in Kyiv on a “fact-finding mission,” the US embassy in Kyiv said.

Army Chief of Staff General Randy George is also in the delegation and he and Mr Driscoll will meet Mr Zelensky on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A Turkish source said US special envoy Steve Witkoff could also visit Turkey but there was no announcement of such a visit from US officials.

Another source, at the Turkish foreign ministry, said Turkish officials would meet only Mr Zelensky, and Mr Witkoff was not expected to be part of the Ankara meetings.