US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he must meet with Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
“I have a very good relationship with Putin. I think we’re going to make a deal. We have to meet and I think we’ll probably schedule it,” Trump told Fox News in Abu Dhabi.
Istanbul hosted talks between Russia and Ukraine on Friday to advance peace efforts between the two countries.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said intensive diplomatic talks, brokered by Turkey, had resulted in an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners from each side as a confidence-building measure.
Fidan said Ukrainian and Russian officials had agreed in principle to meet again to negotiate a ceasefire.
Trump said he was tired of other people “going and meeting and everything else.”
“I think Putin is tired of all this,” he said, adding that he would use leverage if he had to because nobody uses it better than him.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on Friday that Russia and Ukraine had reached an agreement to carry out the largest prisoner exchange since the start of the conflict between the two countries.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, Umerov stressed that the agreement was a key result of the meeting, and said that the date for the exchange had already been set, but could not be disclosed at the moment.
“The meeting is over. We discussed a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange. At the moment, we have reached an agreement on the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from both sides. These are the results of our meeting,” he said.
Umerov further stressed that the Ukrainian delegation had received instructions from the president to focus on achieving a ceasefire and implementing the prisoner exchange.
A trilateral meeting of delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, aimed at achieving peace between Moscow and Kiev, was held in Istanbul today.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan led the talks, which took place at the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul and lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
The Turkish delegation also included the head of the National Intelligence Service (MIT), Ibrahim Kalin.
“We must seize this opportunity to move forward on the path to peace. Every day of delay brings new losses of human life,” Fidan said in his opening remarks, addressing the delegations of Russia and Ukraine, as well as Turkish mediators.
The Russian delegation was led by Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and included Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff Igor Kostyukov, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin and other officials.
The Ukrainian delegation was led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and included Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kislitsya, Deputy Head of the Security Service Oleksandr Poklad, Deputy Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Oleh Lukhovsky, Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Administration Oleksandr Bevz, and others, AA writes.
