President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan evaluated the developments regarding the Russia-Ukraine war in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
According to the statement made by the Turkish Directorate of Communications, during the meeting, Erdoğan expressed his great pleasure in having successfully concluded the prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine that had been in the works for a long time.
Noting that the agreement for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea is working, President Erdoğan said that a similar approach can be taken in the context of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and that the mediation and facilitation proposal for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the power plant is valid.
Stressing that holding unilateral referendums in some parts of Ukraine under Russian control would complicate efforts to revive the diplomatic process, Erdoğan said that Türkiye is ready to make any necessary contribution to the resolution of the war through peaceful negotiations.
Ukraine's separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson held referendums on joining Russia on Sept. 23-27.
The polls have been widely condemned by the international community, with European nations and the United States calling them "sham" and saying they will not be recognized.
