UK, EU Must Stand United Against Russian Aggression, Says Ed Price

Ed Price, Senior Non-Resident Fellow at New York University, discusses conflict around the globe and how a quick end and shift of munitions from the Iran War to Ukraine would help end Russia's push into Europe.

Ukraine has asked Turkey to help arrange a summit meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a renewed effort to end the war, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in Kyiv.

“We have addressed the Turks directly. But if another capital — other than Moscow and Belarus — organizes such a meeting, we will attend,” Sybiha told reporters at a briefing Tuesday. “We are also advocating for a meeting now to inject new momentum into the Zelenskiy–Putin diplomatic track.”

With Russia’s full-scale invasion in its fifth year and US-brokered negotiations stalled since the Middle East conflict erupted, Ukraine is seeking alternative ways to revive the diplomatic track. Kyiv has long seen Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a mediator able to engage with Putin, and Istanbul has hosted past talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials.

The Turkish Presidency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly said he’s willing to meet Putin if it helps advance a peace deal, and that almost any country could host the talks. The Russian president has previously ruled out a meeting before an agreement on ending the war has been reached for the two leaders to sign.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Istanbul hosted the first direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in more than three years in May last year. It was also the venue for negotiations that led to the Black Sea grain deal in 2022 brokered with Turkey and the United Nations to unblock Ukrainian agricultural exports. Peace talks within weeks of the February 2022 full-scale invasion also took place in Istanbul. The US and Iran are locked in a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz after failing to meet for a fresh round of peace talks, with both sides using blocks to the waterway to gain leverage during an extended ceasefire.

President Donald Trump said the truce agreed April 7 would stay in place indefinitely while Washington waits for Iran to submit a new peace proposal, though Tehran says it has no plans to take part in negotiations imminently. Vice President JD Vance had been prepared to fly to Islamabad on Tuesday to resume discussions, before it became clear Iran would not send its own delegation.

The US maintained a naval blockade on ships going to and from Iran’s ports to pile pressure on the Islamic Republic, a move Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called a violation of the ceasefire.

At the same time, Iran is keeping Hormuz closed to almost all other international traffic, and the country’s gunboats fired on commercial ships in the strait on Wednesday. Trump’s ceasefire extension represented a climb down from threats to resume the bombing of Iran in the event a deal couldn’t be reached by a Wednesday deadline, a move that would have revived a war that’s killed thousands of people and sent energy prices soaring.

But there’s still no sign Hormuz will be reopened to oil and liquefied natural gas shipments soon, increasing the likelihood of supply shortages and a global inflation crisis. About a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG was shipped through the waterway before the war, as well as supplies of key commodities for fertilizer and other agricultural products.

Trump blamed divisions among the Islamic Republic’s leaders for the need to extend the truce, which Fox News reported may not last for more than five days. Aside from Hormuz, the sides remain far apart on longer-term issues such as the status of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, and its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

Read More: Can the US and Iran Agree to a Deal to End the War?

Trump on Wednesday said Iran had heeded his calls not to execute eight female protesters.

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