Volodymyr Zelensky entered Turkey.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday, March 18, after arriving in Turkey.
During the Ukraine war, the Turkish President has tried to maintain a balance in his close relations with Moscow and Kyiv, and has repeatedly expressed readiness to mediate in order to end the war.
A senior Turkish official said it is expected that in these talks, Mr. Erdogan will emphasize negotiation to end Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, which has entered its third year.
According to the unnamed official, another focus of the negotiations will be new measures to ensure the security of commercial shipping in the Black Sea.
This meeting takes place as Volodymyr Zelensky has pressured Ukraine’s Western allies to quickly provide the necessary weapons and equipment for his country’s army to counter Russia’s advances in the western regions of Donetsk province in the east and the incursion in Kharkiv province in the northeast of Ukraine.