Zelensky, Erdogan and Guterres to meet in Ukraine on Thursday
SMA NEWS – ANKARA
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a one-day working visit to Lviv on August 18, 2022, upon the invitation of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to a statement made by the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, all aspects of the strategic partnership-level Turkiye-Ukraine relations will be evaluated during President Erdogan’s meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart.
During the visit, it is also expected that a trilateral meeting will be held with the participation of Zelenskiy and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
At the meeting, the steps that can be taken to end the Ukraine-Russia war through diplomatic means, by increasing the activities of the mechanism established for the export of Ukrainian grain to the world markets, will be discussed, according to the statement.
Three Black Sea ports were unblocked last month under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, making it possible to send hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Ukrainian grain to buyers. The United Nations said the deal aims to ease a worsening global food crisis
The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will also be discussed according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for shelling near the eastern Ukraine nuclear plant, which Russian forces took over in the early stages of their Feb. 24 invasion. The plant is still being operated by Ukrainian technicians.
The UN has said it can help facilitate a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Zaporizhzhia from Kyiv, but Russia said any mission going through Ukraine’s capital was too dangerous.
