Turkish foreign minister to visit Ukraine, hold high-level talks

ISTANBUL

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will pay a visit to Ukraine on May 29-30 at the invitation of his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, diplomatic sources said.

Fidan is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal; and to hold bilateral meetings with high-level officials, including Sybiha as well as head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Andriy Yermak and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed the Ukrainian delegation in direct talks between Ukraine and Russia held in Istanbul on May 16, 2025, the sources added.

During the meetings, the Turkish foreign minister is expected to discuss steps that can be taken to develop bilateral relations, notably on trade, energy, defense and security, as part of the cooperation established on the basis of the strategic partnership between Ankara and Kyiv.

Fidan will also reiterate Türkiye's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.

He will also highlight the increasingly serious negative impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war, emphasizing the necessity of ending the war through diplomacy and the need to ensure a just and sustainable peace. To this end, Fidan is expected to express Türkiye's readiness to do its part, as it has done so far, and to host subsequent talks between Kyiv and Moscow in this regard.

He will voice Ankara's readiness to also play a role in the reconstruction of Ukraine and underscore the importance of ensuring navigation safety in the Black Sea.

Besides the bilateral ties, the meetings during the visit will also discuss regional and global issues.

The Turkish foreign minister is also expected to meet with the Crimean Tatar and Gagauz Turk compatriots, notably Crimean Tatar national leader and member of Ukrainian Parliament Mustafa Kirimoglu, and President of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly Refat Chubarov.

Mutual high-level visits, bilateral trade volume between Türkiye, Ukraine

Visits at the foreign minister level between Türkiye and Ukraine have continued without losing momentum.

Fidan paid his last bilateral visit to Ukraine on Aug. 25, 2023.

Sybiha, for his part, paid his last bilateral visit to Türkiye on Oct. 21-22, 2024. Sybiha also attended the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which was held on April 11-13, 2025 in Türkiye's southwestern province of Antalya.

On May 14, Fidan and Sybiha met in Antalya on the sidelines of an informal NATO foreign ministers meeting.

Besides the foreign minister level, there has recently been a significant increase in official visits from Ukraine to Türkiye at all levels.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited Türkiye on March 8, 2024 as well as on Feb. 17-18 and on May 15-16 this year.

In addition, Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) Ruslan Stefanchuk visited Türkiye on May 13-15, 2024, Defense Minister Umerov on May 14, 2024, and Head of the Presidential Office Yermak, accompanied by Umerov, on June 28, 2024.

Besides the high-level visits, the trade volume between the two countries was recorded as $6.2 billion in 2024 despite the negative effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.