On the evening of January 1, 2026, local time, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated that he had received a briefing that day from Omerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, regarding his visit to Turkey. Earlier that day, Umerov met in Turkey with Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan and the Director of the National Intelligence Organization, Ibrahim Kalin. Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine is fully committed to resuming prisoner exchanges at the start of the new year, which was the central topic of the talks with Turkey. Ukraine needs Turkey’s assistance to help Ukrainian citizens currently in Russia return home. He noted that exchange operations had been very active last year but stalled toward the end of the year, and now need to be restarted.