Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday commended Turkey’s role as a mediator in the Ukraine conflict during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in China.
“I’m confident that Turkey’s special role in these matters will continue to be in demand,” Putin said at the talks held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
He noted that three rounds of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv hosted in Istanbul had achieved limited progress, mainly on humanitarian issues such as prisoner exchanges and the return of soldiers’ remains.
The discussions, however, have failed to advance a broader settlement. Ukraine has accused Russia of delegating officials without decision-making power, while Moscow insists Kyiv must concede four regions it claims to have annexed — a demand Ukraine has rejected outright.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has urged a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia has dismissed the idea as premature, insisting key disputes must be resolved first.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year, has devastated much of the country’s east and south, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead.
