A trilateral meeting in Lviv will contribute to the peace process in Ukraine, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, over the phone on Thursday.
Erdoğan thanked Duda for "providing support to his journey to Ukraine."
The president traveled to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine near the Polish border, for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.
With Ukrainian airspace closed due to the ongoing war, the Turkish president's trip was "partially via Poland," according to Türkiye's Communications Directorate.
In a phone call with Duba after meeting the Ukrainian and U.N. leaders, Erdoğan said the trio "held talks which would hopefully contribute to the peace process in Ukraine."
Duda congratulated Erdoğan for his "constructive role and efforts aimed at solving the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and for his contributions to the grain export deal," read a directorate statement.
Duda also invited Erdoğan to Poland for talks, the statement added.
Erdoğan voiced concern on the clashes around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
"We expressed our concern about the ongoing conflict around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. We do not want to experience a new Chernobyl," Erdoğan said at a news conference after a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy and Guterres earlier in the day.
Erdoğan, Zelenskyy and Guterres gathered in the Ukrainian city of Lviv to discuss steps that can be taken to end the Ukraine-Russia war through diplomatic means and maintain a mechanism recently established for the export of Ukrainian grain to world markets.
"During our trilateral meeting, we also evaluated the possibilities of transforming the positive atmosphere created by the Istanbul agreement into a permanent peace," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan said the entire world had begun feeling the "positive effects" of the agreement, which enabled the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea to the rest of the world.
On July 22, Türkiye, the United Nations, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian Black Sea ports for exporting Ukrainian grain stuck due to the military conflict, which is now in its sixth month.
Erdoğan said they had discussed ties at the strategic partnership level with the Ukrainian delegation, covering all the dimensions and prospects to advance cooperation and solidarity. He also reiterated Ankara's strong support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
He said Türkiye is working to end conflicts diplomatically, adding that Ankara has "stood by our Ukrainian friends and we continue to do so."
During his bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Erdoğan said he told Zelenskyy that Türkiye would provide the necessary support for the war-hit country's reconstruction, as it has done so far.
Türkiye has dispatched 98 humanitarian aid trucks to meet the urgent needs of Ukrainians, he said. "We've been temporarily hosting nearly 325,000 Ukrainians. We've admitted a total of 1,507 people, including 1,099 orphans and 408 care staff, until conditions in Ukraine return to normal."
Erdoğan pointed out that the international community should assume greater responsibility for the revival of the diplomatic process between Russia and Ukraine.
"What matters is to find the shortest and fairest way to the negotiating table," he said.
Expressing his belief that the war would eventually end at the negotiating table, Erdoğan said that Zelenskyy and the U.N.'s Guterres also held this view."
He underlined that during their trilateral meeting, they had also discussed the exchange of prisoners of war, an issue to which Türkiye attaches "great importance."
"We're ready to act as a facilitator or mediator towards the goal of reviving negotiations upon the parameters that took form in Istanbul," he said.
Türkiye will discuss the outcome of Thursday's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian side, he said.
