ANKARA: Turkey on Friday proposed hosting a summit with the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and the United States as it strives to broker an elusive deal to end Russia’s three-year invasion – an invitation swiftly dismissed by the Kremlin.

Moscow said it was sending a team of negotiators to Istanbul for a second round of direct talks with Ukraine on Monday – though Kyiv has yet to confirm if it will attend.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has fostered warm relations with both Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, has become a key mediator amid Donald Trump’s push for a deal to end the over three-year war.

“We sincerely think that it is possible to cap the first and second direct Istanbul talks with a meeting between Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky, under the direction of Mr. Erdogan,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a visit to Kyiv.

Russia ‘doing everything’ to ensure Istanbul talks yield no results

The Kremlin pushed back against the idea of a face-to-face meeting involving Putin and Zelensky.

“First, results must be achieved through direct negotiations between the two countries,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Fidan met with Zelensky and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga in Kyiv on Friday.

In a statement posted on X after his meeting with Fidan, Zelensky thanked Erdogan for his “efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace”. But he noted that Russia was doing everything to ensure the proposed talks in Istanbul on June 2 led to no results.

“For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared. Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,” he said.”