Zelenskyy did not rule out Turkey as a platform for negotiations on exchanges

Ukraine considers Turkey as a possible platform for negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war. This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answering questions from journalists in the Presidential Office chat.

The Head of State was asked to comment on the statement of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country could become a platform for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

"First of all, Turkey was a platform for negotiations. We reached decisions there on the return of our prisoners of war, on exchanges. I think we will continue this track. I don't know if it will be on the basis of Turkey or in another country, we'll see," Zelenskyy said.

The president also answered whether the new position would affect Kirill Budanov as the head of the OP to work on prisoner exchanges. He explained that this issue was dealt with by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Budanov, who was the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the then head of the OP Andriy Yermak.

"The new head of the Office will also deal with exchanges. Together with Rustem Umerov [Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council]. This is one of the issues of our negotiating team," Zelensky said.

According to him, the pauses in the exchanges are due to the fact that for Russia it is pressure on Ukraine.

"Ukraine is finding its diplomatic pressure on Russia to end the war. Russia understands that the exchange of prisoners of war is an important and painful issue for us, and that is why it is slowing down all this," the head of state stated.

• On December 8, 2025, Zelenskyy stated that peacefully there are provisions for the return of Ukrainian children abducted by the Russians and for the exchange of all Ukrainian prisoners.
• The last exchange of prisoners was held on October 2 – back then, Ukraine returned 205 military and civilians from Russian captivity.