Sources in the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported that delegations from Turkey, the United States, and Ukraine met under the chairmanship of Fidan. Intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin also participated in the hour-long meeting at the Turkish presidential office in Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.
The US delegation was headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and included President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, and US Ambassador to Ankara, Tom Barrack.
The Ukrainian delegation included Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sepiha, and Defense Minister Rustam Umarov.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree forming his country's delegation to the peace negotiations in Istanbul.
Commenting on the negotiations, Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak affirmed in a statement via Telegram that his country's priority in the negotiations is to achieve an unconditional ceasefire.
He also expressed Ukraine's readiness for peace and high-level talks, noting the importance of a potential meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian delegation in Istanbul remains in constant contact with President Putin via the internet to provide live reports on the developments in the negotiations.
He emphasized the importance of the peace negotiations, saying, "Naturally, all eyes are now on the developments in the talks in Istanbul. We hope that direct talks between Russia and Ukraine will begin soon. We have nothing to say now; let's wait for the negotiations to begin."
On May 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed resuming direct negotiations with Ukraine without preconditions on May 15 in Istanbul, asking his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to host the new round.
For his part, President Erdoğan affirmed Türkiye's readiness to host negotiations to achieve a just and lasting peace, while the Ukrainian government welcomed the move. The international community's attention is now focused on the meetings hosted by Istanbul.
It is noteworthy that in March 2022, Istanbul hosted several rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations to reach an agreement on ending the war.
The two countries signed an agreement in Istanbul in July 2022, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea and help address the global food crisis that has worsened since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The agreement was extended three times before Moscow suspended it on July 17, 2023.
Since February 24, 2022, Russia has launched a military attack on its neighbor, Ukraine, and has made ending the offensive conditional on Kyiv abandoning its membership in Western military entities. Kyiv considers this to be "interference" in its affairs.
