Turkish, Ukrainian officials talk steps to strengthen Ukraine's defense

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday held a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

On Twitter, Ukraine's Kuleba said: "Another focused call with my Turkish friend and counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on practical steps to strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities."

"I highly appreciate Turkey's solidarity with Ukraine at this critical time," he noted.

Two officials also held a phone conversation late Thursday, according to diplomatic sources.

On yesterday's phone, Kuleba said they had addressed "practical steps to ensure security in the Black Sea region against the backdrop of Russia's brutal attack on Ukraine."

"Ukraine expects resolute actions. Our joint security is at stake now," he added.

- The Donbas crisis and Russia's military intervention

Ukraine's February 2014 "Maidan revolution" led to President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country and a pro-Western government coming to power. Russia then illegally annexed Crimea, and separatists declared "independence" in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbas, eastern Ukraine, both of which have large ethnic Russian populations.

Clashes took place between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian army. The 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements, signed in Moscow with the intervention of Western powers, tried to stop the conflict, but cease-fire violations continued and as of this February, some 14,000 people had lost their lives in the conflict.

Late last year, Russia made headlines with the deployments of tens of thousands of its troops on the border with Ukraine. The US said Russia was preparing an invasion, but Moscow denied it. Despite the threat of Western sanctions, Moscow recognized the separatist governments in Donbas earlier this week and on Feb. 24, it launched a military operation into Ukrainian territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the operation's aim is to protect people "subjected to genocide" by Kyiv and to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine. He called on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.