Trump Touts Erdoğan as Potential Peacemaker in Russia-Ukraine War

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Fresh from a diplomatic victory lap in the Middle East where he presided over the signing of the Gaza peace plan, United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday singled out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a key figure who could potentially help resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One while returning from the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit, President Trump highlighted his personal relationship with the Turkish leader, describing him as a "friend" who is "respected by Russia."

The president's comments, in which he characteristically noted, "I get along with the tough ones," underscore his unique and often personalized approach to international relations and come at a critical and highly fluid moment in the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine, a moment defined by a dramatic escalation in both military pressure and high-stakes diplomatic maneuvering.

When asked by a journalist if some of the regional players involved in the Gaza deal, particularly President Erdoğan, could also play a role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, President Trump responded in the affirmative. "Yeah, Erdoğan can," he stated. "He's respected by Russia. Ukraine, I can't tell you about, but he is respected by the world. And he's a friend of mine." 

The U.S. President then offered a window into his own diplomatic philosophy, one that favors strong, decisive leaders.

"You know, you can see. I get along with the tough ones. I don't get along with the weak ones. I get along with the tough ones," he mused. "I don't know what that is, but Erdoğan's been great with me. You know, when NATO has a problem with Erdoğan, which they often do, they call me to talk to him, and I've never failed at working it out by the way."

This brief exchange comes just days before President Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House for what will be his third visit since January. The meeting, which both leaders have confirmed is scheduled for Friday, is expected to focus on Ukraine's urgent need for enhanced air defenses and a discussion of how to put more effective pressure on Russia to end the war.

According to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP), President Zelenskyy, speaking in Kyiv on Monday, stated that the "main topics are air defence and our possibilities... to pressure Russia."

The upcoming White House meeting follows a flurry of recent activity and a notable toughening of President Trump's stance toward Moscow.

As previously reported by Kurdistan24, the U.S. President issued a direct and potent warning to Russia on Sunday, declaring that he may be prepared to send long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not soon agree to a negotiated settlement. "I might say, ’Look: if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,” President Trump told reporters, according to the Associated Press. He described the Tomahawk as an "incredible weapon, very offensive weapon," and pointedly added, "And honestly, Russia does not need that.”

This threat of a major escalation in U.S. military assistance is a direct result of the president's growing frustration with the lack of diplomatic progress in ending the war. This frustration has also led to a dramatic shift in his assessment of Ukraine's chances on the battlefield. Last month, as reported by the AP, President Trump announced that he now believes Ukraine could win back all the territory it has lost to Russia, a stark reversal from his previous calls for Kyiv to make concessions.

President Zelenskyy, who has been lobbying for months for more advanced, long-range weapons, has been cautiously optimistic about the prospect of receiving Tomahawks.

In an interview with Fox News Channel, he stated, "we work on it," and that he was "waiting for president to yes." The decision to provide such a weapon would be a major strategic shift, as the Trump administration has, for months, blocked Ukraine from using U.S.-provided long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russian territory, a restriction that has been a source of significant frustration for Kyiv.

While this military pressure track is clearly accelerating, President Trump is also simultaneously pursuing a diplomatic one, fresh off a major victory in the Middle East.

As detailed in a report by The Wall Street Journal, the president's success in brokering the release of hostages and securing a ceasefire in Gaza has given him "enormous leverage to solve other major conflicts," according to Fred Fleitz, a former senior National Security Council official.

European officials are now hoping that the U.S. president can seize on this momentum and apply the same principles to the Ukraine war. "If Trump can draw any lesson from the Israel-Hamas deal to apply to the Ukraine war," senior European officials told The Wall Street Journal, "it boils down to one word: Pressure."

The Journal's analysis points out that the Gaza deal was achieved through a multi-pronged pressure campaign: President Trump pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept his peace plan, while Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye simultaneously increased pressure on Hamas. All of this occurred while Israel continued its own military assault on Gaza. 

The clear implication is that a similar combination of diplomatic and military pressure is needed to bring President Putin to the negotiating table. So far, the report notes, President Trump has not brought the same level of pressure to bear on Moscow. He has not, for example, issued any major new sanctions on Russia or targeted its "shadow fleet" of illicit oil tankers.

While the diplomatic and military maneuvering plays out at the highest levels, the war on the ground continues with brutal intensity.

As reported by The New York Times, Ukraine has been waging its own long-range campaign, using domestically produced drones to target Russian oil refineries in an effort to inflict direct economic pain on the Russian population and persuade President Putin to change course.

Ukrainian soldiers, operating from secret launch sites, have been sending drones with 110-pound explosive payloads deep into Russian territory, targeting a key component of the Russian economy. "The most effective sanctions, the ones that work the fastest, are the fires at Russia’s oil refineries,” President Zelenskyy said last month.

According to an analyst cited by The New York Times, by last month, these drone strikes had damaged or destroyed refining equipment capable of processing 1.5 million barrels of crude per day, representing about 20 percent of Russia's total refining capacity.

The campaign has led to increasingly severe gasoline shortages in multiple regions of Russia, with the price of gasoline up about 40 percent since the beginning of the year. While these strikes are hurting ordinary Russians, they are not yet cutting deeply into the Kremlin's main source of revenue, which is the export of crude oil and natural gas.

Russia, for its part, has continued its own relentless campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure. On Friday, as reported by the Associated Press and The New York Times, a massive Russian aerial assault involving hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles caused widespread blackouts in Kyiv and other cities, a grim and familiar start to Moscow's annual winter campaign to cripple the Ukrainian power grid.

It is into this complex and volatile landscape of escalating military strikes and high-stakes diplomacy that President Zelenskyy will arrive in Washington this week.

His meeting with President Trump will be a critical moment, a chance to make his case directly for the advanced weaponry he believes is necessary to turn the tide of the war, and to see if the American president, buoyed by his success in the Middle East and increasingly frustrated with Moscow, is finally ready to apply the same level of decisive pressure to Vladimir Putin.

President Trump's singling out of the Turkish President Erdoğan as a potential mediator adds another intriguing and potentially significant player to this complex geopolitical chess game.