Contacts with Ukrainian, Russian counterparts going favorably: Turkish president

By Iclal Turan and Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - The president of Turkiye on Monday said phone talks with his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts are continuing in a "favorable direction."

"I can express that the phone calls we've maintained with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskyy are heading in a favorable direction," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the press conference after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex.

Before a fresh round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia set to take place in Istanbul on Tuesday, Turkish officials will sit down with both sides for a "short meeting," Erdogan said in the capital Ankara.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine will come together in Istanbul on Tuesday as the Russian war on Ukraine has continued for over a month.

The two-day peace talks, to be held at the presidential Dolmabahce office, are set to start at 10.30 a.m. local time (0730GMT).

Several rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine have been held in Belarus so far, and the last talks were in a video conference format on March 14, with no concrete results achieved yet.

On March 10, Turkiye made headlines worldwide for hosting the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in the southern city of Antalya, the highest-level meeting of the two sides since the war began on Feb. 24.

Although the sides failed to reach an agreement on a cease-fire, they agreed to continue negotiations over the conflict.