Zelenskiy to meet Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday for talks on Ukraine war and Black Sea security
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold important talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday, ahead of hoped-for peace-format discussions in November.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday for what he has described as important talks, as diplomatic efforts continue after more than four and a half years of war with Russia.
The visit, on 31 October at Erdogan's invitation, was announced on Friday by the Turkish presidency's communications director, Burhanettin Duran, who said on X that the two leaders would discuss steps to further enhance bilateral cooperation, as well as regional and international developments, most notably the war in Ukraine and security in the Black Sea.
According to the Turkish presidency, Erdogan will host Zelenskiy at his Dolmabahce office overlooking the Bosphorus, with the meeting to be followed by a news conference. The setting is a familiar one for high-stakes diplomacy: Istanbul has hosted several rounds of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials since Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022.
In his nightly video address on Friday, Zelenskiy said the talks in Turkey were part of a wider push to use every available diplomatic opportunity. “Important negotiations will take place in Turkey. We are also working to ensure that all available diplomatic opportunities are pursued,” he said, adding: “We expect that in November we will be able to move towards the formats that have been under discussion for such a long time.”
That November track is already taking shape. Zelenskiy said this week that he hoped a trilateral meeting between peace negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States would take place in Abu Dhabi between 6 and 10 November, and that Kyiv wanted Europe to be involved in talks on how to end the war.
Black Sea security is expected to feature prominently in Istanbul, and for good reason. The sea is a vital corridor for Ukrainian grain exports, and its safety matters far beyond the region: disruption to shipments hits food supplies and prices in the Global South in particular. The issue was also raised on Friday at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, where Poland's foreign minister called for a rapid Black Sea ceasefire to allow safe passage for grain from both Ukraine and Russia.
Turkey's role as a mediator is central to the meeting. Ankara has repeatedly offered to help facilitate talks, has maintained working relations with both Kyiv and Moscow, and brokered the earlier Black Sea grain arrangement that allowed Ukrainian exports to resume. That history gives Saturday's talks a weight that a routine bilateral visit would not carry.
For Ukraine, the visit comes at a moment of intense diplomatic activity. Kyiv is trying to keep international attention on the war while pushing for a negotiating format that includes Europe alongside Ukraine, Russia and the United States, rather than a deal shaped without European involvement.
For Turkey, the meeting reinforces its position as a bridge between the warring sides and between the West and Russia. Erdogan has long presented Ankara as a mediator, and hosting Zelenskiy days before a possible November negotiating round puts that claim to a practical test.
What comes out of Saturday will be judged first by the joint news conference that follows the meeting, and then by whether the November formats Zelenskiy spoke of actually materialise. A concrete step towards the Abu Dhabi talks would count as progress; vague assurances would leave the diplomatic track where it has been for months — active, but without an end to the war in sight.
