Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that the leaders of Ukraine and Russia are “not yet ready” for a face-to-face meeting, Reuters reports.

Previous efforts to bring the two sides together have failed to materialise, with lower-level negotiations showing little progress toward ending the war.

Türkiye supports “raising the level of negotiations gradually”, with the ultimate goal being a direct meeting between the two leaders. Erdoğan believes this to be the only way to achieve concrete results for peace. 

The Turkish president made the comments following his trip to China, where he met with Russian president Vladimir Putin and said he called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone. 

He also said that the diplomatic path to peace remains open, demonstrated by talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Istanbul in recent months. 

Türkiye has taken an active role in mediation since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, keeping channels with both countries open and hosting diplomatic meetings between officials from the two warring countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday discussed comprehensive security guarantees for Ukraine, including Türkiye’s potential defense involvement in Black Sea security arrangements.

The diplomatic push came hours after Russian forces killed 21 people including four children in Kyiv in a massive overnight assault on Ukraine using over 30 missiles and around 600 drones. 

“Ukraine is ready to engage in the format of leaders, as this is the only effective format. Unfortunately, it is Russia that avoids this and continues its war,” Zelenskyy reported on X following the call.

Thursday morning’s attack struck diplomatic facilities including the Turkish embassy, EU delegation, and British Council, as well as several residential buildings in the capital city. “This is Putin’s response to all the efforts by Ukraine, the United States, and our European partners to stop the killings,” he wrote. 

“We also discussed security guarantees extensively. National security advisors are now working on every specific component, and the entire framework will be set out on paper next week,” he added in the post.

Türkiye’s mediator role amid security guarantee deadlock

Türkiye has positioned itself as the primary mediator in Ukraine-Russia peace efforts, with President Erdoğan consistently pushing for direct talks between leaders while declaring that “European security without Türkiye is unthinkable.” Bloomberg reported in March 2025 that Türkiye is evaluating potential peacekeeping missions in Ukraine as Europe scrambles to fill gaps left by reduced US commitments under Trump. 

However, security guarantees remain the central obstacle to any peace deal. Zelenskyy has consistently argued that “security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees,” emphasizing European guarantees alone would be ineffective without US involvement. 

Ukraine maintains that any ceasefire must include “clear security guarantees” to prevent future Russian attacks, while Trump has pressured Ukraine to accept deals without such protections.