Erdogan calls for new peace talks on his visit to Ukraine

The Turkish president met Volodymyr Zelensky and the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, writes Borzou Daragahi

- Borzou Daragahi

The leaders of Ukraine and Turkey, along with the chief of the United Nations, met yesterday in an attempt to strengthen a corridor moving grain from eastern Europe to the rest of the world and to explore ways to resurrect efforts at ending Russia's six-month war against its western neighbour.

The summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lviv was being closely watched by the world. "The visit of the president of Turkey to Ukraine is a powerful message of support from such a powerful country," Mr Zelensky said in a statement, adding that he and Mr Erdogan had discussed the grain initiative as well as the armed conflict around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is Europe's largest.

Turkey has been playing a key role in the conflict, hosting the highest-level peace talks so far between Russia and Ukraine and brokering a formula to get eastern European food exports out of the conflict zone. At a press appearance, Mr Erdogan voiced sympathy for Ukrainians suffering violence and deprivation and noted that Turkey had sent 100 shipments of aid and hosted 325,000 war refugees, including more than 1,000 orphans and their caretakers.