President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday received United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the capital Ankara, amid Turkey's mediation efforts to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The closed-door meeting came before Guterres' visits to Russia and Ukraine.
Guterres and Erdoğan reaffirmed their "common objective" of ending the war in Ukraine "as soon as possible," the U.N. said on Monday.
The leaders "stressed the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver much-needed assistance to impacted communities," the U.N. said in a statement.
Guterres expressed his support for Turkey's "ongoing diplomatic efforts in relation to the war in Ukraine," noting that he and Erdoğan "agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives."
Earlier on April 18, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said Turkey served as a valuable host for humanitarian talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Guterres will then head to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by a trip Thursday to Kyiv in an effort to mediate an end to Russia's invasion, which has killed thousands and driven over 10 million Ukrainians from their homes since Feb. 24.
Eri Kaneko, Guterres' associate spokesperson, told a news briefing on Friday that the U.N. chief would head to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and have a working lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, hoping to discuss what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine.
The United Nations also said on Friday that Guterres would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday as well as Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and staff at U.N. agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance efforts.
The trip comes as the war enters its third month, with fierce battles continuing in the country's east and scores of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers trapped in the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Zelenskyy on Saturday criticized Guterres's decision to head to Moscow before Kyiv, saying there is "no justice and no logic in this order."
"The war is in Ukraine, there are no bodies in the streets of Moscow. It would be logical to go first to Ukraine, to see the people there, the consequences of the occupation," Zelenskyy said.
Turkey is one of the most active countries working to ensure a permanent cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia. Its delicately balanced act of assuming a role as a mediator by keeping communication channels with both warring sides open provides a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. With its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its push to end the war.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing through them.
In a breakthrough, Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks in Istanbul on March 29 as the war entered its second month with casualties piling up on both sides. During the talks, Ukrainian officials signaled readiness to negotiate a "neutral status," a key Russian demand, but demanded security guarantees for their country. Ukraine wants to see countries, including Turkey, as guarantors in a deal with Russia, a Ukrainian negotiator said after the talks. Russia, meanwhile, pledged to significantly decrease its military activities focusing on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv to build trust for future negotiations.