In Istanbul, Ukraine’s Zelensky vows greater security cooperation with Turkey
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Istanbul on April 4.
PHOTO: AFP
- Zelenskiy and Erdogan agreed to "new steps" in security cooperation, focusing on Ukrainian expertise, technology, and experience to support Turkey.
- Turkey will continue mediating peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, with Erdogan stressing maritime safety in the Black Sea and energy security.
- Ukraine seeks to leverage its counter-drone experience and is pursuing security agreements with Middle Eastern states like Saudi Arabia.
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ISTANBUL/KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced greater security cooperation with Turkey after meeting his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on April 4, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its wartime know-how on the international stage.
Mr Zelensky said he had agreed on “new steps” in security cooperation with Mr Erdogan and that teams would finalise the details shortly.
“This applies above all to the areas in which we can support Turkey: expertise, technology and experience,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Mr Erdogan told Mr Zelensky that Turkey would continue to support negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war between them, the Turkish presidency said.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its neighbour, in 2022, after seizing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
Mr Zelensky said the two leaders discussed cooperation opportunities in joint gas infrastructure projects and joint gas field development.
Turkey wants maritime safety in Black Sea
Turkey, a NATO member that has kept close to both sides, hosted initial peace talks early in the war in 2022, the only such talks until 2025, when US President Donald Trump launched a new bid to end the fighting.
At the April 4 meeting in Istanbul, Mr Erdogan told Mr Zelensky that Turkey attaches great importance to maritime safety in the Black Sea and that the security of energy supplies is crucial, the presidency said.
Last week, a marine drone struck a crude oil tanker that had departed Russia, causing an explosion in the Black Sea near Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait, drawing condemnation from Turkey. It was one of several incidents in recent months involving Western-sanctioned vessels heading to or from Russian ports in the Black Sea.
Ukraine has recently signed security cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and says it is in talks with several other Middle Eastern states about similar arrangements.
After the outbreak of war in the Middle East, Ukraine has sought to leverage its counter-drone experience acquired during its four-year-long war against Russia.
Moscow has long deployed Iranian-designed drones to strike Ukraine since its February 2022 invasion.
Mr Zelensky’s spokesman told reporters that the Ukrainian leader would meet Patriarch Bartholomew, the most senior cleric in the Orthodox Church. REUTERS
