A British newspaper reported that the planned talks on Wednesday between U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, were canceled in Turkey.
Oliver Carroll, a correspondent for The Economist, wrote, X: “To my knowledge, tomorrow’s meeting between Witkoff and Yermak in Turkey has been canceled. I was told Witkoff may not have fully grasped the scale of the scandal when he agreed to the meeting,” referring to the major corruption scandal within the Ukrainian government.
Earlier, Reuters had reported that Witkoff was planning to visit Turkey on Wednesday and participate in talks with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Burhanettin Duran, head of communications at the Turkish presidency, previously stated that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would be on the agenda during Zelensky’s scheduled visit to Turkey on Wednesday.
Regarding his upcoming visit, Zelensky expressed a desire to intensify negotiations for a settlement in Ukraine and to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia.
Zelensky confirmed his intention to visit Turkey on Wednesday, where meetings are scheduled to take place.
Turkey plans to resume negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, although no specific details have been disclosed yet, according to a former Turkish diplomatic source cited by Sputnik.
Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of direct negotiations in Istanbul, resulting in prisoner exchanges. Additionally, Russia returned the bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv, and both sides exchanged draft settlement documents.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed that Russia is ready to discuss the political aspects of a settlement with Ukraine and work in any format. However, Moscow has yet to receive a response from Kyiv regarding the proposal to establish three working groups to address humanitarian, military, and political issues in more detail. This proposal was made by the Russian side during the third round of negotiations in Istanbul last July.
Moreover, it was Zelensky who declined Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to come to Moscow for negotiations.