Ukrainian, Russian presidents may meet in Turkey – Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that an agreement has been reached with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about his possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ankara.

Erdogan also stressed that there was a positive response from Moscow to Putin paying a visit to Turkey upon Ankara's invitation after returning from China, Daily Sabah reports.

"We will now set the date. Then, hopefully, we want to hold this meeting in order to bring together Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky at a high level," Erdogan said after returning from Ukraine.

According to Erdogan, he and Zelensky agreed to work in this direction. Edrogan believes that if they can achieve this at a high level without reducing it to lower levels, "the results we see will provide an opportunity for a new solution [to the crisis] in the region."

Erdogan also underlined the sophisticated nature of the relations between Turkey and Russia. "We currently have serious bilateral relations with Russia. These relationships are not ordinary. The steps to be taken for this are also important. Therefore, I attach great importance to the meeting with Mr. Putin."

Earlier, during a press conference following his visit to Kyiv on February 3, President Erdogan said that Turkey was ready to make efforts to reduce tensions in the region, including by hosting a summit at the level of leaders or talks at the technical level.