The Kremlin said the leaders held a detailed discussion about the Russian initiative and Erdogan expressed full support, reiterating Turkey’s readiness to provide a venue and assist in organizing the negotiations.
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
A Polish soldier sits in a tank as a NATO flag flies behind during the NATO Noble Jump military exercises of the VJTF forces on June 18, 2015, in Zagan, Poland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Estonia's foreign minister emphasized on Feb. 14 that NATO has a timeframe of approximately three to four years to enhance its defensive capabilities as Russian leader Vladimir Putin ramps up his nation's military activities, AP reports.
During a visit to Poland's capital, Margus Tsahkna said at a news conference that Estonia, along with Lithuania and Latvia, does not perceive Russia as an immediate threat, attributing this stance to Moscow's current focus on its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"But we must understand the Russian war machine has started in the full scale, the capabilities for production and the mentality as well, because Putin is controlling now everything," he said.
Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are regarded as prime targets should Russia ever contemplate an assault on the military alliance. Poland, despite its larger size, also shares a sense of vulnerability. All four nations staunchly support Ukraine.
Amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West due to the war, reports surfaced on Feb. 13 revealing that Estonia's Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, has been put on a wanted list in Russia due to her initiatives to dismantle Soviet-era World War II monuments. Kallas brushed off the development as a "common scare tactic" employed by Moscow.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
