Both Russia and Ukraine consider Turkey an “objective and balanced” country that wants to play a “constructive” role in peace efforts, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday.
Kyiv has expressed that it wants Turkey among the guarantors of a peace deal and that is also acceptable to Moscow, Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with Tahsin Ertugruloglu, foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
Ukraine wants Turkey, Germany and the members of the UN Security Council to act as guarantors in any potential peace deal, Cavosoglu added.
Rejecting the notion that this would make Turkey a party to the war, he explained that the main responsibility of the guarantors will be to ensure Ukraine does not face any security threats.
On the talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul this week, Cavosoglu said they led to “the most meaningful progress” in the ongoing push to end the war and were an “indicator of their confidence” in Turkey.
Earlier this month, Turkey also brought together the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in its southern resort city of Antalya, the only meeting of senior government officials from the two sides since the war began on Feb. 24.
Cavusoglu said he has invited Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba to Turkey again for another round of discussions.
Turkey, with its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, has won widespread praise for its push to end the war.
This Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul were seen as a breakthrough in the push to halt hostilities that, according to latest UN figures, have claimed the lives of at least 1,232 civilians and left 1,935 more injured.
More than 4 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, the UN refugee agency has said.
