Turkey has twice hosted direct talks between Ukraine and Russia since the war broke out.
Istanbul:
Turkey on Wednesday accused some of its NATO allies of wanting to prolong the war in Ukraine to weaken Russia.
“There are countries within NATO that want the war to continue,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Kavusoglu told CNN Turk in an interview.
“They want Russia to be weakened,” Cavusoglu said, as talks between Ukrainians and Russians stalled after the last one-on-one meeting in Istanbul last month. They were due to continue online.
He did not directly name any country.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Ukrainians are “already withdrawing from the agreement”.
NATO member Turkey has supplied combat drones to Ukraine, but has shied away from imposing sanctions on Russia along with Western allies.
But since Ankara has good relations with Kyiv and Moscow, it is mediating to end the conflict and has offered to host the leaders’ summit.
Turkey has twice hosted direct talks between the two sides, on 10 March between Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in the southern city of Antalya and on 29 March in Istanbul between negotiators from both sides.
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