First guest of Türkiye's top diplomat on New Year's Day was Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council who is his country's top negotiator with the West for an end to Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Umerov met in Ankara but no further details were provided regarding the meeting. The meeting came amid stepped-up efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
As it enjoys good diplomatic ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, Türkiye has been one of the major international players seeking a halt to the conflict, which is nearing the four-year mark.
Russia accused Ukraine of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone strike on a hotel and cafe where civilians were seeing in the New Year in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region.
Ukraine's military, which has accused Russia of killing thousands of civilians in its own attacks on Ukrainian cities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Moscow's accusation.
Zelenskiy said that Russia's holiday season attacks showed Ukraine could not afford delays in air defense supplies.
"(Our) allies have the names of equipment which we are lacking. We expect that everything agreed with the United States at the end of December for our defence will arrive on time," he said, without clarifying further.
Zelenskiy met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to negotiate a peace framework to end the war. Both leaders have said they are close to an agreement, but thorny issues around post-war control of territories remain.
The Ukrainian energy ministry said a "significant number" of households in the Volyn and Odesa regions - in northwestern and southwestern Ukraine, respectively - were disconnected from power supplies by the overnight strikes, as well as some in the Chernihiv region north of the capital Kyiv.
The governor of Volant said more than 103,000 households in that region had lost power as a result of the attack. Volyn region is several hundred kilometres from the front line and borders NATO member Poland.
