Erdoğan To Meet With Putin This Week

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey on Monday said that he will "most probably" have a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this week.

He added that the meeting will serve as the "solution point" for the steps to be taken to ease tensions in eastern Ukraine.

Turkey has friendly ties with both sides, and is actively involved in diplomatic efforts for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia.

The country hosted delegation-level talks in Istanbul last month and has repeatedly proposed holding a leaders’ summit between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Earlier in March, Turkey also brought together the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in its southern resort city of Antalya, the first meeting of senior government officials from the two sides since the start of the war.

Turkish officials have also been engaging with their counterparts on the issue of humanitarian corridors in Ukraine to evacuate stranded civilians and wounded persons.

At least 2,899 civilians have been killed and 3,235 others injured in Ukraine since the war with Russia began, according to United Nations estimates.