By Ali Murat Alhas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held a phone talk on Sunday to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine, which has been the target of Russian military intervention.
The main topics of the conversation were a possible cease-fire and humanitarian situation, including the evacuation of civilians, according to a briefing by Turkiye's Foreign Ministry.
Sunday marked a busy day at the office for Cavusoglu as he spoke to several counterparts via phone, including Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba. Details on Cavusoglu’s conversation with Kuleba, however, were not disclosed.
The Turkish diplomat also held talks on Ukraine with Estonia’s Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets along with Dutch counterpart Wophe Hoekstra and Helga Maria Schmid, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Thursday, days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine. He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy its neighbor, but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.
At least 368,000 Ukrainians have since fled the country, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
In response, Western powers imposed financial sanctions on Moscow. The EU has also decided to close its airspace to Russian airlines, and ban Russian state media.
*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas