All eyes are on the high-level tripartite meeting between Turkey, Russia and Ukraine that will take place on Thursday in the southern province of Antalya as part of Turkey's efforts to mediate between the warring countries.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Monday, saying, "We will hold this meeting in a tripartite format in Antalya on Thursday, March 10."
Çavuşoğlu will attend the meeting since both leaders have requested his presence, the minister said, adding that it will bring high-level Russian and Ukrainian officials together for the first time since the war began on Feb. 24.
The three-day Antalya Diplomacy Forum in the Turkish resort city of the same name is set to start Friday, and the Russian-Ukrainian meeting the day prior.
Earlier, expressing hope that the meeting "will be a turning point" and "important step" towards peace and stability, Çavuşoğlu said Ankara would "continue to make efforts for a lasting peace."
"I hope the first meeting between Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers tomorrow will lead to a permanent cease-fire," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday.
Lavrov on Wednesday described the meeting as "very important".
Kuleba, for his part, said that the meeting will take place thanks to Çavuşoğlu's efforts.
In a televised interview, he said: "The meeting, which is planned to be held on March 10, will be held primarily thanks to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. I do not know whether (President Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan convinced (Russian President Vladimir) Putin or Çavuşoğlu convinced Lavrov, but the meeting will take place."
Noting that Lavrov has been avoiding any contact with him in the form of a duo or a Normandy Quartet for two years, Kuleba said: "Now he suddenly agreed, maybe he wants to convey something. We will listen, but I will talk to him with the understanding that Lavrov is one of the architects of the aggression against Ukraine."
Asked whether occupied Crimea and Donbass will be on the agenda during the meeting, Kuleba said that his country is not in a position to give up anything in the negotiations.
Also, Lavrov on Wednesday traveled to Turkey for the meeting, the TASS news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying.
Expressing hope that the meeting would be a "turning point" and "important step" toward peace and stability, the Turkish foreign minister said Ankara will "continue to make efforts for a lasting peace."
Since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, Turkey has been participating in active diplomatic efforts to bring the relevant parties together, Çavuşoğlu said, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made 19 phone calls to his counterparts.
"I also made about 40 (phone) calls," the minister added.
"During this period, I spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba six times and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov four times, not including our conversation by SMS," he added.
According to the minister, Kuleba desired a direct meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart Putin because the latter "takes the final decisions."
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have met three times in the Belarusian city of Brest, the most recent on Monday.
Moscow's delegation was led by Russian presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, while Kyiv was led by Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to Zelenskyy.
Following the meeting, Podolyak stated on Twitter that the talks resulted in "small positive" steps in developing humanitarian corridors.
Moscow has various conditions to end the war in Ukraine. It wants Ukraine to amend its Constitution to state unequivocally that Kyiv will not join any alliance and that Crimea is Russian territory.
In February 2019, Ukraine's parliament approved amendments to the Constitution that enshrine Ukraine's desire to join NATO.
Kyiv wants the war on its territory to end and Russian troops to completely withdraw from Ukrainian soil, including Crimea and Donbass.
The first round of negotiations took place on Feb. 28 in Gomel, Belarus, near the Ukrainian border, and lasted five hours.
The second of the peace talks took place on March 3, and the third one took place on March 7 in Brest.
Russia announced early on Monday that it would declare a "temporary" cease-fire in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy from 10 a.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT) to ensure the evacuation of civilians.
Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow. and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.
At least 474 civilians have been killed and 861 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, according to the United Nations, which noted that conditions on the ground make it difficult to verify the true number.
Some 2 million people have also fled to neighboring countries, said the U.N. refugee agency.
Maintaining its neutral and balanced stance, Turkey continues its diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the Ukraine conflict, urging all sides to exercise restraint. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing the Turkish Straits.
NATO ally Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Having recently called Russia’s invasion an unacceptable violation of international law, Turkey has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, with which it has close energy, defense and tourism ties.
