Turkish president says he is ready to arrange Trump-Putin meeting at any time

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said his country is ready to host a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at any time.

As reported by Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, Erdoğan was responding to a question about the cancellation of the Putin-Trump meeting in Budapest.

"This once again demonstrates the importance of Türkiye, or Istanbul, in the vision of peace. We are ready to host such a meeting at any time," Erdoğan said, adding that it is regrettable that the meeting in Budapest did not take place.

"We believe that any dialogue will be useful in ending this war. Right from the start, we have advocated for this, worked on it, and declared that a just peace is possible. We have good relations with both sides and are a country that has earned the trust of both sides. This gives us an advantage on the path to peace, and we are determined to use this situation for the benefit of humanity," Erdoğan added.

Trump has changed his mind about meeting Putin in Budapest for now and admitted that he is disappointed with the pace of talks with Russia.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has accused the "pro-war elite" of trying to derail the planned Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest.

Putin himself, commenting on Trump's announcement that the bilateral meeting in Budapest had been cancelled, referred to it as a possible "postponement".