Ready to push for local ceasefires in Ukraine, says Turkey

The Turkish government said on Saturday (January 14) that it was ready to push for local ceasefires in Ukraine but said that neither Russia nor Ukraine had the military means to win the war. Ibrahim Kalin, the foreign policy advisor of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters, "Turkey is willing to push for local ceasefires and small localised de-escalations. Neither party is in a position to win the war militarily, on the ground," a report by news agency AFP said. Kalin conceded it seemed unlikely that Moscow and Kyiv were ready to strike an "overarching peace deal" in the coming months.

However, the advisor pointed out that the brutal cost of fighting might soon see the warring sides reconsider and accept localised truces in specific parts of the war zone.

ALSO READ | Ukraine war: Soledar city 'controlled' by Kyiv, fighting ongoing, says report

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Since the beginning of Russia's offensive in Ukraine on February 24 last year, President Erdogan has used his good relations with Moscow and Kyiv to try and mediate an end to the conflict. Erdogan has held repeated telephonic conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky aimed at finding common ground, the report said.

Turkey had hosted two early rounds of peace talks and helped strike an UN-backed agreement restoring Ukrainian grain deliveries across the Black Sea. A few weeks back, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar had said that his government called for at least a humanitarian ceasefire, then a permanent ceasefire and then peace talks. Akar said on December 27 last year that the war will not end easily despite Turkey's efforts to arrange peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine will soon enter its 12th month with President Volodymyr Zelensky wanting to visit the United Nations and address a high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia's offensive.

ALSO READ |Zelensky wants to address UN General Assembly when Russian invasion completes one year

On Saturday, key infrastructures in Kharkiv and the capital city of Kyiv were hit by Russian missiles while Ukraine said it is in control of the salt-mining city of Soledar. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to provide Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to supply Kyiv with main battle tanks. Last week, France, Germany and the United States pledged to send armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)

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