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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Tuesday his country is ready to host a future round of talks between Ukraine and Russia, expressing hope that negotiations will “swiftly lead to a ceasefire, followed by lasting peace.”
“We emphasized that we are always ready to host negotiations. We see this as a duty, not just for our region, but for global peace,” Fidan told reporters at a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
“We have conveyed our request for the upcoming negotiations to take place in Turkey and assured them that we are ready to contribute in every way,” he said.
Fidan is on a two-day visit to Moscow where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Earlier this month, delegations from Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul for the first time since 2022.
The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.
European leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.
Russia also levelled the same accusations on Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday accused Ukraine of undermining peace efforts by launching a series of drone attacks on Russia this month.
“This action by Kyiv discord with aspirations for peace process,” he told reporters.
Peskov hailed the US peace efforts, saying that “the Americans and President (Donald) Trump have taken quite a balanced approach.”
“Clearly, the Russian and the American sides mustn’t and can’t agree on everything, certain disagreements will always remain, but there is a political will to implement the agreements that have been reached and the work is continuing,” Peskov said.
At the same time, Peskov criticised Europe for continuing to provide arms supplies to Kyiv, noting that by this, Europe has become indirectly involved “in the war against Russia,” adding that it “in no way helps peace settlement” in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Trump’s patience appears to be wearing thin. In a post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, the US president warned his Russian counterpart that he’s “playing with fire” amid renewed attacks and stagnant peace talks.
Trump’s latest comments came after he called the Kremlin leader “CRAZY” over the weekend following a mass Russian air attack on Kyiv.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump wrote.
US media outlets speculate that the Trump administration is reportedly considering fresh sanctions against Russia as early as this week, while stressing that the US president could still change his mind.
The reports have not been confirmed by Trump or White House officials, although the 47th US president has repeatedly warned that Washington may abandon peace efforts if talks between the warring sides don’t yield positive results soon.
Additional sources • AP
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