Russia: "Highly concerned", Zelensky is going to see him in Türkiye | President | Russia
According to AFP, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zerenski will hold talks with Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the 7th. Türkiye is the new stop of Zelensky's visit, which aims to promote Ukraine's accession to NATO and obtain more weapons from its allies.
It is reported that the upcoming talks in Istanbul, Türkiye will be held 500 days after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Zelensky acknowledges that Ukraine's counterattack is progressing slowly.
"However, we are moving forward, not retreating... we now have the initiative," Zelensky told reporters
Previously, Zelensky visited the Czech capital Prague and called on the United States and other allies to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons and artillery.
Zelensky said, "Without long-range weapons, it is not only difficult to complete offensive missions, but also difficult to carry out defensive actions."
According to the report, the talks with Erdogan, an important mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, will focus on an upcoming agreement aimed at delivering Ukrainian food by black sea.
Both Zelensky and Erdogan want to extend the agreement reached by the United Nations, Türkiye and Russia. According to the agreement, Ukraine was allowed to transport food to global markets during the war. The agreement will expire on July 17th unless Russia agrees to renew it.
It is expected that the two leaders will also discuss the upcoming NATO summit. Some analysts believe that Zelensky will push Erdogan to give Sweden a green light for joining NATO before the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Another AFP report said that the Kremlin said on the 7th that it would "pay close attention" to the upcoming talks between Ukrainian President Zelensky and Türkiye President Erdogan, and said that the upcoming talks in Istanbul were "very important".
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, "We will pay close attention to the outcome of the talks." He also said, "We are very interested in the content of the two people's talks. This is very important."