Erdogan says Trump would join Ukraine peace talks in Turkey if Putin attends

According to REUTERS, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump told him he would attend potential peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia in Turkey, if Russian President Vladimir Putin also agreed to take part.

On his return flight from the NATO summit, where he met Trump for the first time since he returned to office, Erdogan said he told the U.S. president Ankara aims to bring the Russian and Ukrainian leaders together in Turkey for peace talks.

"He (Trump) said, 'if Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a solution, then I will also come," Erdogan's office on Thursday quoted him as telling reporters.

"We will hold the necessary contacts and God willing realise this meeting as soon as possible."

The Kremlin said on Thursday that no progress has yet been made in setting a date for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, according to the Interfax agency. For its part, the Russian agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Russia is in favor of continuing American mediation efforts.

Resuming negotiations after a pause of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2, which led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers. However, there has been no progress towards a ceasefire, for which Ukraine, with the support of the West, has been pushing.