Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday to exchange views over Russian intervention and the latest developments.
Erdoğan told Ukrainian Zelensky during a phone call on Saturday that Ankara is making efforts for an immediate ceasefire.
In a statement, the Turkish Presidency said Erdoğan also expressed condolences for Ukrainians killed in the Russian attack.
The Turkish president expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in Ukraine, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military intervention on Thursday, days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.
ZELENSKY THANKS ERDOĞAN FOR TURKEY’S MILITARY AND OTHER SUPPORT
Zelensky thanked Erdoğan for Turkey‘s humanitarian and military support, saying a “ban on the passage of (Russian) warships to the Black Sea” was very important for his country.
Turkey, which controls the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits that link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, has not publicly announced any ban on Russian warships using the straits despite Ukraine‘s urgent requests that it do so.
On Friday Turkey‘s foreign minister said that under the 1936 convention covering the matter, Ankara could not bar warships returning to a home base in the Black Sea from passing through the straits. Russia has a major naval base in the Black Sea.
