New York September 20 2022: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he thinks the Russian president is thinking about ending the war against Ukraine and that an “important step” will be taken soon.
The Turkish president said that from his recent conversation with the Russian president, he felt that he “wants to end this (war) as soon as possible.”
It should be remembered that during this month, Ukraine has freed a large area of its country from the occupation of Russia.
According to President Erdogan, the war in Ukraine has created “special problems” for Russia.
President Erdoğan said that during a summit held in Uzbekistan last week, he had “discussed in great detail” with President Putin.
While giving an interview to the American broadcasting organization PBS, the Turkish leader said that from the conversation with President Putin, he realized that he wants an early end to the war.
According to Mr. Erdogan, “Actually, what he (President Putin) wanted to tell me was that he wanted to end this war as soon as possible.” (From his words) I think so, because the current situation (for Russia) is becoming very difficult.
The Turkish president further said that the exchange of 200 “hostages” between Russia and Ukraine will be done soon, but he did not give any details about who will be involved in the exchange of prisoners between the two countries.
It should be remembered that the Turkish president has been trying to settle between Russia and Ukraine several times, where he tried to balance the Western countries’ sanctions against Russia along with being a member of NATO.
During the war, he also helped the United Nations restore commodity exports to Ukraine, and last week he said he was trying to directly negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
On the other hand, after two months of Russian forces occupying the entire eastern part of Ukraine, Ukraine has re-liberated some of its territories.
The Ukrainian leader of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hedai, says that Russian troops have withdrawn from the village of Bloharovka, but the Russians are doing everything possible to maintain their control over the remaining areas.
“It is clear that the occupiers are panicking,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Earlier this month, Mr. Erdogan accused Western countries of following a strategy to provoke Russia. The Turkish president warned that it was unlikely the war would end soon.
Last week, the Russian president said that he is ready to meet with the Ukrainian president, but President Zelensky does not want to meet. While talking to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Putin said that he wants to end the war as soon as possible.
However, Russia has so far given no indication that it is ready to accept the Ukrainian president’s demand that it withdraw from all parts of Ukraine, including the territory it seized in 2014. had taken
Remember that Russia occupied Crimea in 2014 and now the former president of Crimea has said that the pro-Russian separatists should hold a ‘referendum’ in Crimea and see what the people of Luhansk and Donsek say about it.
The former president is now the head of Russia’s National Security Agency and he says that President Putin has expressed this many times in the past that Russia’s main goal is to “liberate” these areas of Ukraine from Ukraine.