简体中文
The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine have arrived in Turkey for face-to-face talks set for Thursday morning, officials said, in the first high-level contact between the two sides since the Russia started its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had landed in Antalya for talks "on Russia ceasing its hostilities and ending its war against Ukraine," foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko tweeted Wednesday evening.
Kuleba confirmed in a Facebook video that he would travel to Turkey for the talks but said his expectations were "limited".
"I am not pinning any great hopes on them, but we will try and get the most out of it" the talks with effective preparation, he said.
The sit-down comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed for Ankara to play a mediation role.
The Russian and Ukrainian ministers will be joined at Thursday's meeting by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, with NATO member Turkey keen to maintain strong relations with both sides despite the conflict.
Dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow has so far yielded several local ceasefires and humanitarian corridors to evacuate residents, but Russia has been accused of breaching those agreements.
Officials from Kyiv and Moscow have held several rounds of discussions in Belarus, but the meeting in the southern city of Antalya represents the first time Russia has sent a minister for talks on the crisis.
(CGTN)
