Ukraine trusts in Turkey's support and leadership, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday amid the ongoing war with Russia, reports TurkicWorld with the reference of DailySabah.
Speaking to Turkish broadcaster Habertürk, Zelenskyy touched upon the negotiations with Russia and said that Ukraine received guarantees from representatives of some states.
"They said they are ready to host meetings. Some countries said they volunteered to be guarantors. The United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France, and Israel are some of these countries. They said they were ready for this. During the meetings, we will talk about what security guarantees are. Warranties will be clear. Negotiations with Russia will follow," he said.
"We count on Turkey's full support. We trust the Turkish leadership," he added.
Underlining that they have to seize every opportunity in order to build dialogue and end the war, he said: "The situation is difficult without dialogue. It will not be possible to stop the war without dialogue. Still, there are many leaders in the world trying to mediate. Turkey and its leader is one of these people. It plays the role of intermediary in many ways. We see that Turkey is helping us."
"If Turkey were Ukraine, we would support them. It may take some time, but we can't wait too long. We are at war now and our people are dying. We definitely need to hold this meeting as soon as possible. Then we will sit down to the meeting with Russia. We count on the full support of Turkey. We also count on the support of the Turkish leadership. We would have helped if this was the case in Turkey anyway," Zelenskyy said.
Turkey’s delicately balanced act of assuming a role as a mediator by keeping communication channels with both warring sides open provides a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. With its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its push to end the war.
Most recently, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his offer to host Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks to secure peace between Ukraine and Russia. Erdoğan voiced hope that a possible summit between the two leaders in Istanbul could bring an end to the war. He added that Putin and Zelenskyy need to take steps regarding Donbass and Crimea.
