US special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to join talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, as the Ukrainian president said he wanted to intensify peace negotiations.
Bringing the end of the war closer with all our might is Ukraine's top priority, Zelensky said, adding that efforts would also focus on resuming prisoner exchanges.
Turkey has maintained ties with both Kyiv and Moscow and has previously hosted talks between the two factions.
But no Russian representative is set to join the meeting in Ankara, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
He added that while there were no concrete plans for Vladimir Putin to speak to either the Turkish side or to Witkoff, the Russian president was of course open to a conversation.
Ankara will be the fourth capital Zelensky visits in only a few days. In Athens, he secured a gas deal; in Paris, he signed an agreement to obtain up to 100 fighter jets; and in Madrid, he held talks on cooperation with Spanish arms manufacturers.
The visits are part of Zelensky's mission to shore up European support for Ukraine while Russian attacks on the country intensify and Moscow's troops close in on the key eastern city of Pokrovsk.
Domestically, Zelensky is facing the most serious crisis in years, with several members of his closest circle under investigation for co-organizing a large-scale criminal scheme, resulting in two ministers resigning.
The scandal threatens to widen, prompting warnings from some EU leaders that Zelensky needs to address corruption before they decide in December on unblocking a €140bn loan for Kyiv based on frozen Russian state assets.
As the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 approaches, Moscow and Kyiv remain fundamentally opposed regarding the end of the war.
Earlier in November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia's conditions for a peace deal had not changed since Putin's list of demands in 2024, which includes Ukraine renouncing NATO ambitions and full withdrawal from occupied areas.
Zelensky has countered that yielding territory in the Donbas would leave the rest of Ukraine vulnerable to attacks.
Following a long meeting with Putin in April, Witkoff seemed to imply that peace hinged on the status of contested Ukrainian regions and Crimea. This position led to tensions with Zelensky, who accused him of promoting Russian narratives.
Zelensky and Witkoff have not met since early September, and despite multiple high-level discussions, American efforts to facilitate a ceasefire have stalled.
A once-anticipated meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest was scrapped due to Moscow's unwillingness to compromise on unacceptable demands for Kyiv.
Contact between American and Russian officials continues discreetly, with reports of Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev meeting Witkoff in Washington in October, shortly after Trump imposed sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies.
