Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Da Silva said on Wednesday that he would urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to join Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy for peace talks on whether Russian leaders will attend a proposed meeting in Turkey.

Putin proposed to restart direct negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday for more than three years of war. Zelenskyy then challenged the Kremlin leaders to meet in Türkiye in person.

Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lula maintained close ties with Putin - a position that created tensions with the Kiev government and attracted Western eyebrows.

Lula travels to Moscow on Wednesday, where he will be on his way back to Brazil during his official state visit to China.

Lula told reporters in Beijing: "When I go to Moscow, I will try to talk to Putin. 'Hey Comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and go to negotiations, it won't cost me my words.''

The Kremlin refused to confirm who went to Türkiye and whether Putin would be included. Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, said Zelenskyy would only sit at the table with Russian leaders.

The possible meeting between the two presidents raised hope, and recently, the pressure on U.S. and Western European leaders to stop fighting has increased, which could bring dividends. If no progress is made, these countries threaten to impose further sanctions.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials will negotiate in Türkiye.

Lula repeatedly called for peaceful negotiations between the two countries. In May 2024, China and Brazil issued a joint peace plan calling for peace meetings with Russia and Ukraine without expanding the battlefield, but Zelenskyy rejected the plan.

On Tuesday, Brazil and China issued a joint statement to welcome possible talks. "The Brazilian and China's government hopes that the direct dialogue between the two sides can begin as soon as possible, as this is the only way to end the conflict," a statement issued by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said.

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday that Brazil's "special flight" landed at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow, which has a marina that foreign VIPs usually land.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov will not confirm or deny that Lula may meet Putin, just saying that the Kremlin will tell the public whether the two do meet.

Ukrainian government and military analysts say Russian forces have been ready to adopt a new military offensive to maximize pressure on Ukraine and strengthen the Kremlin's negotiating status in negotiations, Ukrainian government and military analysts said.

The War Institute of Washington think tank said Tuesday that Russia is “trying to extend negotiations to extract other concessions from the United States and to advance further on the battlefield.”

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Eleonor Hyghes of Rio de Janeiro contributed to the report.

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Follow the AP's report on the war in Ukraine