Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, invited him. So Ukraine's President showed up today.
And this is the biggest sign yet that Turkey wants an actual seat at the table in ending the war with Russia.
So where did they meet? The Presidential Dolmabahçe Office. That's Turkey's government residence on the Bosphorus. Turkey's Directorate of Communications had announced the visit a day earlier.
Zelensky didn't just see Erdoğan. He also met İbrahim Kalın, Turkey's intelligence chief. And Hakan Fidan, Turkey's Foreign Minister. And Haluk Görgün, who runs Turkey's defence industries body. Yaşar Güler, Turkey's Defence Minister, welcomed him when he landed. Zelensky also met Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew while he was in the city.
So what was actually on the table? Cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine. Regional developments. And right at the top of the list: the war with Russia, and what's happening in the Black Sea.
After the talks, Erdoğan and Zelensky stood together for a joint news conference.
Erdoğan said attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea are unacceptable, no matter who carries them out or why. He didn't name Russia. He didn't name Ukraine either.
He said Turkey will keep talking to both sides, Russia included, to make shipping safe again. And he said getting that done would push the wider peace effort forward too.
So here's what that actually means. Turkey is positioning itself as the one country still talking to everyone. And it's doing that right as the war starts hitting ships that have nothing to do with the fighting.
Since the start of October, drones have hit at least four vessels with Turkish links or in nearby waters.
On 5 October, the Turkish-owned grain carrier Royal Mammadov sank in Romania's economic waters. Two crew members died. Zelensky blamed Russia. Romania hasn't named a suspect.
On 6 October, the Alfa Watan went down off Bulgaria. It was reportedly Turkish-owned. All 10 crew are presumed dead, according to the BBC.
On 13 October, the HS Dignity sank in the same waters. 10 more crew are missing. Bulgaria's defence minister says it's assumed the drones were Russian. Russia's ambassador says Moscow has no information, and suggested someone else staged it.
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Contains modified ISS imagery showing Istanbul from above on October 8, 2024. NASA · Public domain
On 28 October, the Contship Jet, flying a Liberian flag, was hit by drones in Bulgarian waters. Nobody has identified who did it.
And the scale of this goes way beyond four ships. The Financial Times, citing Ambrey and the International Maritime Organization, reports more than 570 vessels have been hit in the Black Sea this year. At least 40 seafarers are dead.
That's the exact backdrop Yaşar Güler was addressing three days before this visit, in Sofia. He warned both sides that Turkey reserves legal rights over attacks on Turkish-linked ships. And Turkey says it's waiting on Moscow and Kyiv to respond to its own proposal to stop the attacks and secure grain shipments.
Zelensky says he and Erdoğan agreed to work on reviving the Black Sea grain corridor. But the Ukrainian outlet Ukrmedia reports that doesn't mean any new deal with Russia has actually been reached.
Zelensky also said something bigger. Ukraine is preparing for three-way talks with the United States and Russia, in the first half of November.
He said peace requires strong decisions. And that Russia has to be told, at every level, there is no alternative to it.
Three days before this visit, in The Hague, Zelensky said he hopes those trilateral talks happen in Abu Dhabi, between 6 and 10 November. No date is confirmed yet. He says Kyiv is waiting on Washington, and he expects an answer after America's midterm elections on 3 November.
That same day, Erdoğan spoke by phone with Donald Trump, America's President. Turkey's Directorate of Communications says Erdoğan told him Turkey stands ready to help revive the diplomatic process between Ukraine and Russia.
So what does Ukraine actually want out of the next round? Energy and maritime ceasefires. Prisoner releases. Getting back Ukrainian civilians held in Russia, and the children too.
But here's the part Zelensky keeps repeating. Territory and security guarantees can only be settled at leaders' level. And no meeting with Vladimir Putin, Russia's President, has been agreed.
Russia hasn't responded. Not to Erdoğan's remarks, not to the Istanbul meeting itself. Russia has already rejected Western calls for a Black Sea ceasefire before, according to the BBC.
And Turkish officials are being careful here. They are not calling today's visit a new round of peace talks. Officially, it's a bilateral working visit.
But Erdoğan and Zelensky last met five weeks ago in New York. And Erdoğan said much the same thing then — that Turkey is ready to do its utmost for lasting peace.
So what's still not known? Whether Turkey gets a formal role in the Abu Dhabi round. What Zelensky and Erdoğan agreed on the Black Sea beyond the words. And how Russia responds to Turkey pushing further into this.
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