Russia, Ukraine moving toward agreement on ‘critical’ issues, Turkey says

Ukraine and Russia are close to reaching an agreement on “critical” issues, according a Turkish official who added that a cease-fire could be possible as long as both sides don’t change their current positions.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in an interview published on Sunday in Hürriyet, one of Turkey’s major newspapers, that there was “a convergence in the positions of both sides on important and critical issues” between Ukraine and Russia.

“Some issues need to be decided at the level of leaders,” Çavuşoğlu said.

“If the parties do not step back from their current positions, we can say that we are hopeful for a cease-fire,” Çavuşoğlu added. “There are open channels between the leaders. This is now known.”

Çavuşoğlu also said that Turkey would be glad to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks, noting that Turkey had proposed such an idea before Russia’s attack on Ukraine began.

As Reuters noted, Çavuşoğlu has travelled to both Ukraine and Russia in the past few weeks to meet with the nations’ respective foreign ministers.

Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began, Turkey has sought to be a mediator between the two sides, calling for peace. However, this position has required some balancing due to Turkey traditionally being friends with Ukraine while also relying on Russian oil, France24 noted.