- ANKARA — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to travel to Turkey this week and meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT reported on Thursday.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to visit Turkey for talks with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the Black Sea grain deal and the war with Russia, Turkish state media says.
- Zelenskyy has called on NATO leaders to take concrete steps towards Ukrainian membership in the bloc at a summit next week
Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations to allow their various products to reach world markets via Black Sea. However, Moscow argues that obstacles before Russian exports stemming from international sanctions remain intact despite the deal. Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there were no grounds for extending the deal, which has already been extended several times since it was struck last July.
The visit by Zelenskyy, who will be the third foreign leader to visit Ankara after Erdogan’s reelection victory in May, comes only a week before NATO’s annual summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12 amid a fresh push by Kyiv to become a NATO member after the war ends. Zelenskyy is also seeking to increase Ukraine's military aid from Western governments.
During a visit to Bulgaria on Thursday, the Ukrainian president said Sofia and Kyiv agreed “to significantly intensify cooperation” in the defense sector, according to local Bulgarian reports. During his visit, the Bulgarian Parliament passed a declaration of support for the Ukrainian bid to join NATO once the war is over.
Turkey’s balancing act between Moscow and Kyiv since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has drawn ambivalence from the West.
Ankara, which has not joined Western sanctions against Russia, came under fire from Washington and other Western capitals for allowing Russian businesses to operate in the country.
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