Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has announced that Turkey, which has so far hosted two rounds of peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations, is working to bring together the foreign ministers of the two countries again.
Çavuşoğlu said in remarks to the pro-government A Haber TV station on Thursday that a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could take place within two weeks.
Turkey hosted the first high-level meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers since the war began in the southern resort city of Antalya in early March and another round of talks in İstanbul on Tuesday. The talks in İstanbul were the first face-to-face talks in more than two weeks between the negotiators, during which Ukraine presented written proposals to end the Russian invasion, which began on Feb. 24.
Çavuşoğlu said Turkey had not seen the full implementation of the decisions from the talks in İstanbul, including the withdrawal of Russian forces from some areas, but added that significant progress had still been made.
Earlier negotiations, both by teleconference and in person, failed to make progress on ending the war that has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes, including almost 4 million from the country.
Turkey, which has close ties with both Ukraine and Russia, has tried to position itself as a mediator in the ongoing conflict and did not join international sanctions against Russia.