Ukraine And Russia Close To Agreement On "Critical" Issues, Turkey Says

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said Ukraine and Russia are nearing agreement on “critical” issues and that Ankara believes a ceasefire is possible provided neither side decides to backtrack.

In an interview with Turkish daily Hurriyet on Sunday, Cavusoglu, who traveled to Moscow and Kiev for meetings last week, said there had been “rapprochement in the positions of both sides on important subjects, critical subjects.”

“We can say we are hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides do not take a step back from the current positions,” he added, without offering further details.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Al Jazeera, however, that Moscow and Kiev were close on four main issues, citing Russia’s red line of Ukraine vowing not to join NATO, demilitarization and “denazification” of the country, and the protection of the Russian language.

Kalin said a permanent ceasefire would have to come through a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Reuters reported. Ukrainian presidential aide Mikhail Podolyak said on Thursday that Zelensky could meet Putin “in the coming weeks” but only if a peace treaty was ready.