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."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
European Union flags decorates the façade of the iconic Berlaymont building, the seat of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on May 31, 2023. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The European Union has ceased sanctions against three Russian businessmen — Grigory Berezkin, Farkhad Akhmedov, and Alexander Shulgin.
This was reported by the EU's Official Journal on Sept. 14. The bloc also removed from the sanctions list Georgy Shuvaev, a Russian colonel purportedly killed in Ukraine last year.
Berezkin is the chairman of one of Russia's largest holding companies, ESN Group, whose assets include the RBC media holding. He's reportedly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Azerbaijan-born Akhmedov is a former senator and co-owner of the Russian natural gas-producing company Nortgas.
Shulgin previously headed Ozon, a Russian e-commerce firm, and Russia's biggest tech company, Yandex. He left Ozon in April 2022 after being sanctioned by the EU and Australia.
Western countries have imposed sanctions against multiple Russian oligarchs who were deemed involved in Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine. According to Reuters, the EU has sanctioned around 1,600 individuals and more than 200 entities since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The EU needs the consensus of all 27 member states to impose sanctions, which are renewed every six months.
On Aug. 26, the Financial Times reported that Arkady Volozh, tech billionaire and co-founder of Russia's popular search engine Yandex, had made a formal request for the EU to lift its sanctions against him. Earlier, Volozh publicly spoke out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling it "barbaric."
Glib Kanievskyi
