On Thursday, the presidents of Turkey and the United Nations met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a high-powered effort to end a nearly six-month-long war. But little immediate developments were noted.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that he will follow up with Russian President Vladimir Putin, since the majority of the issues addressed would require Kremlin approval.
With conversations at such a high level – it was the first visit to Ukraine by Erdogan since the start of the war, and the second by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres – some had hoped for breakthroughs, if not in the direction of an overall peace, then at least on individual concerns. However, none was evident.
The leaders met in the western city of Lviv, far from the front lines, to discuss expanding prisoner exchanges and arranging for U.N. nuclear energy experts to visit and assist in securing Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is in the midst of fierce fighting that has sparked fears of a catastrophe.
Zelenskyy attends meetings with the U.N. chief and the Turkish president over a nuclear power facility and grain exports.
On August 18, 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) talks at a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Erdogan has assumed the role of mediator in efforts to end the conflict. While Turkey is a member of NATO, its shaky economy relies on trade with Russia, and it has attempted to walk a middle path between the two adversaries.
After the meetings, the Turkish president encouraged the international community not to forsake diplomatic attempts to resolve the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 10 million Ukrainians.
He continued, “I am persuaded that the battle will finish at the negotiation table.”
In March, Turkey sponsored unsuccessful negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul.
Southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power project was a key topic of discussion during the Lviv conference. Moscow and Kiev have both accused the other of bombarding the complex.
Zelenskyy condemned the Kremlin for what he termed “nuclear blackmail” and requested that Russian forces leave the facility and that a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations be let to enter.
Guterres stated at a press conference, “The region must be demilitarized, and we must tell it like it is: Any possible harm in Zaporizhzhia is suicide.”
Erdogan also expressed alarm over the violence surrounding the facility, stating, “We don’t want another Chernobyl,” referring to the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe, which occurred in Ukraine in 1986.
According to the president’s website, Zelenskyy and the U.N. leader agreed on plans for an IAEA expedition to the facility on Thursday. However, it was initially unclear if the Kremlin would accept the terms. Earlier, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman stated that a force withdrawal would leave the facility “vulnerable.”
Thursday, Russian and Ukrainian officials accused one other of preparing an assault on the site and then blaming the other side, heightening fears. According to a Russian official, numerous rounds of Ukrainian shelling targeted the city where the power plant is located on Thursday night.
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In a 1 May 2022 file photo, a Russian serviceman stands watch outside the second reactor of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Energodar, Ukraine.
General Carlos dos Santos Cruz of Brazil will lead a previously scheduled United Nations fact-finding expedition to the Olenivka jail, where 53 Ukrainian POWs were murdered in a July explosion. Russia and Ukraine have both been held responsible for the explosion.
Thursday’s program also includes a rise in grain exports. In the early summer of this year, the United Nations and Turkey struck a deal allowing Ukraine to export 22 million tons of maize and other grains that had been trapped in its Black Sea ports since the Russian invasion.
The bottleneck has exacerbated global food shortages, pushed up food prices, and increased worries of famine, particularly in Africa. Yet, despite the agreement, barely a trickle of Ukrainian grain has been exported, an estimated 600,000 tons by Turkey.
Thursday, Zelenskyy advocated an expansion of the shipments. Guterres, for his part, lauded the operation’s success but noted, “There is still a long way to go until this is reflected in the everyday lives of people in their neighborhood bakeries and markets.”
At least 17 persons were killed overnight in significant Russian missile attacks on the Kharkiv area of Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities reported Thursday.
The Russian military claimed to have attacked and killed 90 foreign mercenaries in Kharkiv. No immediate reaction was made by the Ukrainian side.
In the most recent incident on Russian soil near the Ukrainian border, a munitions dump in a hamlet in the Belgorod area caught fire, according to the regional governor. There were no casualties recorded. Multiple explosions were audible on an internet video with orange flames and black smoke that could not be independently verified.
Elsewhere, according to Russian officials, anti-aircraft defenses shot down drones on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula at Kerch and near the Belbek airbase in the Black Sea town of Sevastopol. Recent explosions on the peninsula have damaged military aircraft and caused severe damage to military airfields.
Russia sent jets carrying state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to its Kaliningrad area, an enclave surrounded by NATO allies Lithuania and Poland, further heightening international tensions.