Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday. /Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday. /Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to do everything he can to help stop the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine.
Erdogan met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Thursday and is just the latest in a string of leaders to visit Ukraine following talks involving the UK, Poland and the Netherlands.
The Turkish leader has strong ties with both countries involved, and one of his country's officials has said that he was not picking sides in the crisis.
Speaking after the four-hour long meeting with Zelenskiy, Erdogan said: "Turkey is ready to do what I can to end the crisis between two friend countries which it neighbours in the Black Sea. I emphasized once again during our talks today that we can happily host a summit at the leaders level or technical level."
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy hailed the mediator role his Turkish counterpart was playing in attempting to stop the crisis between the two nations.
"I would like to thank President Erdogan for his initiative to become a mediator between Ukraine and Russia on the way to ending the war," he said.
"In Ukraine, we are ready to do our best on all platforms and in all formats. To achieve peace we are ready to use any platform and any format as long as we put a stop to the war. It is important that all are ready to do it."
Erdogan said that he's ready to do everything he can to halt the tension between Russia and Ukraine. /Domenico Stinellis/AP
Erdogan said that he's ready to do everything he can to halt the tension between Russia and Ukraine. /Domenico Stinellis/AP
Russia recently deployed more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, raising concern across the world.
While Russia denies that an invasion is imminent, it has admitted that it could take military action unless its security demands are met, after opposing Ukraine's decision to join the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.
The U.S. itself has also sent almost 3,000 extra military personnel to Poland, Romania and Germany amid the crisis, while also warning that more could be sent if required.
Speaking before he left for Kyiv, Erdogan urged both nations to agree to resolve the issue without the need for violence, while also revealing that he was hoping to sit down with Russia President Vladimir Putin in the coming days.
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"After a visit to China, Putin has told us he would travel to Turkey," he said. "Without holding these two visits, these talks, it would not be right to think about what we can do."
"God willing we will successfully overcome this problematic period between these two countries."
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed on Thursday that the European Union was working on a joint response to a letter its member countries received from Russia earlier this week asking for guarantees surrounding security.
Source(s): Reuters